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NORTH CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 

J. A. HOLMES, STATE GEOLOGIST. 



BULLETIN No. 7. 



FOREST FIRES: THEIR DESTRUCTIVE WORK, 
CAUSES, AND PREVENTION. 



W. W. ASHE, 

IN CHARGE OF FOREST INVESTIGATION. 



RALEIGH: 

Josephus Daniels, State Printer and Binder. 

1895. 



V • rrjph 




o i 



XORTH CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



.7. A. HOLMES. STATE GEOLOGIST. 



BULLETIN No. 7. 



FOREST FIRES: THEIR DESTRUCTIVE WORK, 
CAUSES AND PREVENTION. 



W. W. ASHE, 

I\ Charge oi Forest [nvestigatiox. 




RALEIGH : 
Josephus Daniels, Stat^- Printer ami Binder. 

PRESSES OF E. M. fZZEI.L. 

L895. 



> y. 



TABLE <)F CONTENTS. 



Letteb of Transmittai 5 

[Introduction () 

Forest Fires 9 

Losses from forest lives in L880 10 

The attitude of timber owners towards forest undergrowth 10 

Kinds of forest tires 1] 

Ultimate results of forest fires 12 

The changes produced in the long-leaf pine forests by tires 13 

, Cause of decadence of the long-leaf pine 15 

The seed and seeding of the long-leaf pine 16 

Growth of the long-leaf pine 16 

The seedling 16 

Later stages of growth 17 

Value of determining the rate of growth 18 

Summary lit 

Destruction of pine timber by forest fires .• l!i 

Forest tires the cause of the decrease in naval store products 20 

Exhaustion of the long-leaf pine forests 21 

Increase in the area of waste long-leaf pine lands 21 

The need to stop firing the pine barrens 22 

Effects of burning on pines, cypress, cedars and balsams L':; 

Broad-leaved or deciduous leaved trees 24 

Effect of burning as seen in the composition of the forest 26 

Fires cause decay and hollow- at bases of forest trees 27 

Effects of burning on the soils of the forests 28 

Humus and its functions 28 

Humus a reservoir for water 28 

Beneficial changes humus undergoes 30 

Effects of forest tires on humus 30 

Peaty soils 32 

Damage to the State lands by tires :v.\ 

Area of waste lands in North Carolina 33 

Area of waste lands in eastern North Carolina M4 

Area of waste lands in the middle and western counties 34 

Young growth on waste lands 35 

( lhanges in the forest body t 36 

Increase in the lumber industry 36 

Productive capacity of North Carolina forests ",7 

Consumption of wood in North Carolina 39 

Value of the annual wood production in North Carolina 40 

The period required for forest rotation 41 

Forest area of North Carolina and elsewhere 42 



l» u;e. 

Permanency of forests 43 

Losses from forest fireB during 1894 44 

Summary of reports from counties 45 

Alexander, Anson and Bertie 45 

Bladen, Brunswick, Buncombe and Burke 46 

Caldwell, Catawba. Camden 47 

Columbus, Cumberland, Edgecombe 48 

Graham, Halifax. Harnett, Henderson, Jackson 411 

Johnston, Jones, Macon, Madison, Mitchell, Montgomery 50 

Moore, New Hanover, Northampton, Onslow, Perquimans, Rich- 
mond 51 

Robeson, Sampson. Wake, Wayne 52 

Remaining counties 52 

Aggregate value of property destroyed by forest lires. 53 

Relative prevalence of fires in different regions 54 

Origins of forest lires 55 

The forest fire laws of North Carolina 56 

Various views upon these laws - 57 

How a more rational treatment can be secured 58 

Influence of lumbermen in checking lires 59 

Relation of the burner to the forest 60 

Maine law in regard to forest fires 61 

Laws in other States 62 

Index 114 



LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 

Raleigh, N. C, January 31, 1895. 
To his Excellency, Hon. Ki.ias Carr, 

Governor of North I 'arolina. 
Sir: — I have bhe honor to submit herewith for publication as 
Bulletin No. 7 of the Survey series, a paper by Mr. \V. W. Ashe, 
on the subject of Forest Fires in North < larolina ; their destructive 
work, causes and prevention. 

It is earnestly hoped that the people of theStatecan be induced 
to give this subject the careful consideration which it deserves, 
and that such measures can be adopted as will greatly decrease 
both the number and extent of these fires. 

Yours obediently, 

• I. A. Holmes, 
State Geologist. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The object which it is hoped will be accomplished in the publi- 
cation of this bulletin is to place in the hands of the more intelli- 
gent citizens of the State facts showing the extent to which our 
forests arc being injured by tires, and the importance of adopting 
such measures as will check or stop this great evil. 

Nothing better illustrates the state of public opinion in North 
Carolina on the subject of forest fires than that the fact that the 
State law prohibiting such fires, except under certain conditions, 
has remained on the statute hooks practically unchanged and 
unenforced for more than a century. And nothing more forcibly 
illustrates the destructive work of these fires than the fact thai 
whereas the long-leaf pine, which has for so lone- a time supplied 
both lumber and naval store products, a century ago was a com- 
mon tree throughout the whole of eastern North Carolina, now it 
is almost unknown north of the Neuse river; and south of this 
river, at its present rate of destruction, in two decades more it 
will cease to he a tree of economic importance. Of course tie 
lumbermen have made great inroads on the long-leaf pine forests. 
But even of the full grown trees the fires have destroyed more 
than the lumbermen have cut ; and so completely have these fires 
destroyed the young grow th of long-leaf pine that in many counties 
scarcely a specimen can now he found to indicate where once grew 

valuable forests of this tree. 

Among the hardwoods or deciduous trees of the middle and 
western comities, during the century, the tires have been of incal- 
culable damage to the forests, and in ways that appear to attract 
but little attention : ( 1 ) They have injured the mature trees at their 
bases, causing them to decay and die; (_) they have destroyed I lie 
young growth of the less hardy (but sometimes more valuable) 
varieties; (•". i in case of the more hardy varieties the young growth 
has been frequently killed to the ground, and the new sprouts from 
the roots have imperfect bases and make subsequently imperfect 



rNTRODUCTION. I 

trees; (4) these fires destroy the humus on the surface of the soil, 
and thereby seriously injure its productive capacity. 

The injuries resulting from forest fires are thus so manifold aud 
extensive that it is difficult to estimate them accurately on a money 
basis. But adding to the estimate given on pages 53 and 54 of 
this report the damage resulting from tin; destruction of the 
young growth and the humus, the aggregate damages will doubt- 
less be several million dollars per annum. 

Many of the forest tires have accidental origins, such as sparks 
from locomotive- or other engines, hunting parties or camping 
parties at night, or from burning brush piles during the day. But 
it is estimated that at least two-thirds of these tires are of inten- 
tional origin, and in the majority of such cases the object that is 
expected to be gained in starting the tires is the improvement of 
the pasturage. In some case- the resull of the burning may be a 
temporary improvement in that direction, but it must be borne in 
mind that these tires also destroy much of the grass and annual 
and perennial herbs and shrubs, by burning both the seeds and 
the plants, and that in this way, in the long run, even the pastur- 
age in the forest is injured rather than improved by these repeated 
tires. Unquestionably the wisest policy to adopt, and the policy 
that has been adopted in all civilized countries, is to provide grass 
lands for the pasturage of cattle, and protect the forests against 
tires and all other destructive agencies, because of their value as 
forests. 

The total value of the forest products in North Carolina, as 
shown on pages 4(1 and 41, will range from $20,000,000 to $25,- 
000,000 per annum. The total value of all the cattle in the State 
is about $5,000,000 — a sum which is only between one-fourth and 
one-fifth of the annual value of the forest products ; a sum hut 
little if any greater than the amount of the annual damages to 
the forests of the State caused by tires. 

It must also be borne in mind in this connection that while the 
total yearly growth of our forests is equivalent to about 9,000,000 
cords of wood, the amount of timber now annually cut from these 
forests is equivalent to 11,000,000 cords. We are thus not only 
using the interest on this forest investment, but are making rapid 



S INTRODUCTION. 

inroads on the principal. In the eastern counties we are cutting pine 
forests to replace which, from the seed, will require from fifty to one 
hundred years: while in the western counties it will require from 

one to three centuries to replace the splendid hardwood forests 
of the rich mountain slopes. 

The hare statement of these facts ought to bring us at once to a 
realization of the truth that the protection and perpetuation of 
our forest wealth deserve far more consideration than they have 
received. The right of the present generation to use the mature 
trees of the existing forests no one will deny: nor will any reason- 
able man deny that the younger forest growth of to-day should he 
preserved as the rightful heritage of the next generation. And 
yet. in the treatment of our timber lauds, this latter principle 
appears to he lost sight of entirely. 

It is to he hoped that this matter will he taken up by the press 
of the State — by the more intelligent citizens of every county and 
by the lumbermen themselves, who, as much as any other class, 
are to he benefited by the perpetuation of our forests — and that 
the agitation may he continued until forest fires are of rare occur- 
rence, and until every sale or lease of timber rights will be con- 
ditioned on a rigid protection of the young forest growth against 
the ax and all other destructive agencies 

if such a wise policy is promptly and permanently adopted the 
forests of the State may continue for centuries to he a source of 
wealth to her people. If, on the other hand, the present system 
of waste and destruction continues to prevail, we will not have gone 
far into the new century before we are brought to a. realization of 
the fact that our splendid forests are a thing of the past. 

.1. A. Holmes, 
Slat* Geologist. 



FOREST fires: their destructive work, 

CAUSES, AND PREVENTION. 

By W. W. Asm:. 



FOREST FIRES 

The past year (1894), one of considerable drought, witnessed 
extensive and destructive foresl fires in the Northwestern States. 
involving the loss of over five hundred lives and millions of dollars 
worth of timber and other property. These tires in the Northwest 
occurred in a thinly-settled country. But even in eastern Massa- 
chusetts, a district dotted with towns, farms and country seats, fires 
occurred in the latter part of summer, which fur several days baffled 
every attempt toward extinguishing them: and this was not done 
until a large loss had been incurred. In Massachusetts such fires 
were unprecedented, for the woodland is carefully protected, and 
forest fires are only of accidental occurrence. The same cannot be 
said in respect to other States, least of all for those in which lumber- 
ing and the handling of forest products are extensive industries. 
There is, in most parts of this country, a recklessness amongst those 
deriving their livelihood from the forest, which it seems, is never 
satisfied until the source of their maintenance has been destroyed 

The degree of exemption from extensive forest tires which North 
Carolina has enjoyed during the past year is unsual. In other recent 
years there have been single tires the losses from which aggregated 
hundreds of thousands of dollars. Bladen, Cumberland, Harnett 
and Moore counties have been the seats of such conflagrations since 
1890. Although only the large fires attract much attention, the 
damage and loss occasioned by them does not, on the whole, exceed 
the destruction caused by the thousands of smaller fires which, each 
year, pass, almost unnoticed, through the forests. The damage 
resulting from these smaller fires is inconsiderable, as far as stand- 
ing timber is concerned and, unless the destruction of other prop- 



1(1 FOREST FIRES. 

erty is involved, they arc in many localities regarded as beneficial 
rather than otherwise. Their damage, however, is great, although 
a superficial examination may fail to reveal it. Their continued 
repetition means the gradual killing of the forest or the reduction 
of it to a few species, which are physically capable of withstanding 
scorching heat, which seed or reproduce themselves abundantly and 
at an early age. and whose young seedlings are exceedingly hardy. 

LOSSES FROM FOREST FIRES IN 1880. 

Of all the destructive agencies to which woodland is exposed 
none is surer in its effects or mure rapid in its execution than fire. 
By the census of 1880 the value of the property destroyed by forest 
fires in the inhabited parts of the Tinted States, during one year, 
was ascertained t<> he- over $25,000,000; ami even this immense 
amount is supposed to represent only a part of the property 
destroyed, since no reports were made of many tires. The same 
authority gives the damage from forest fires in North Carolina for 
that year as having reached $357,000, and the number of acres 
burnt over as amounting to 546,000. The value of the property 
destroyed (which was largely standing timber) was equal to that of 
all the standing timber which was cut in the State during that year 
for saw-logs. And equaling the irreparable damage to standing 
timber is the injury to the soil from these frequent burnings. The 
harm thus occasioned is rarely even considered. 

THE ATTITUDE OF TIMBER OWNERS TOWARDS FOREST UNDERGROWTH. 

In circulars sent to well-informed persons in the extreme east- 
ern and western counties a question was inserted concerning the 
attitude of timber owners toward the young growth in the forest. 
In answering this many correspondents gave prominence to the 
fact that it was considered a nuisance to have the young growth in 
the forests, and one of the objects of burning, and benefits derived 
therefrom, was keeping the thicket of saplings killed down. Where 
it is not desired to keep the young growth down in order to secure 
a slender pasturage tie- main object in view appears to he to keep 
the woods open for hunting or to facilitate passage' through them. 



KIM'S OF FOREST FIRES. 11 

The object chiefly desired, then, in burning is pasturage; the object 
attained is the destruction of all young growth. While it is 
regarded as proper and advantageous to secure the maintenance of 
the mature trees, the utilization of which is possible at any time, 
and which represent, prima facie, a specific market value, no pro- 
tection is accorded the young growth to enable it to survive. 
The feeling towards it passes beyond mere disinterest. If the 
young growth is coniferous it is regarded with disfavor, since it 
affords no food material for cattle; if it is of broad-leaved trees its 
legitimate utilization is realized when cattle are browsing upon it. 
It. in spite of the depredations of live stock, the young growth 
persists in growing, which is usually the case, it is burned down to 
effectually check it. The end aimed at in this is to keep the woods 
open ; for in dense woods pasturage grasses do not grow and most 
broad-leaved seedlings will be shaded out. The pasturage obtained 
by this means is insignificant, the herbage of many acres being 
required for the support of a single animal, and it is only secured 
At the expense of a valuable forest undergrowth. 

KINDS OF FOREST KIKES. 

The tires in mosl sections of this State are leaf or grass fires : 
that is. the dry leaves or; dead grass form the fuel which carries 
the flames. Practically all the fires in the western counties are lea) 
Jires; it is seldom that there is sufficient undergrowth present for 
the fire to be communicated to that, although the undergrowth is 
usually all killed. In the south-eastern counties, in the long- 
leaf pine belt, the fires are usually carried by the high and thick 
grasses which cover the forest soil wherever the woods are at all 
open. These grasses are hardy perennials like Aristida -stricta, Andro- 
pogon tener, .1. virginicus, A. elliotti, and A. argentiv-s; the first one 
known as the wire-grass of the pine barrens, the others as broom 
grasses or broom-straws or "sedge." 

Fire frequently escapes from the grass to the pine trees. In pine 
woods where the undergrowth is thick, and more rarely in mixed 
■woods, the brush frequently burns and occasions incalculable dam- 
age to the standing timber; and in swamps with a heavy under- 
growth, particularly peaty ones with a growth of white cedai 



12 FOREST FIRES. 

(juniper), tires in dry seasons will consume both undergrowth and 
brush and mature trees. These fires of course are the most destruct- 
ive and are well called timber fires. 

ULTIMATE RESULTS OF FOREST FIRES. 

To ascertain what will be the effects of the continued burning 
upon woodland there is no necessity to revert to the condition of 
some of the worn-out lands of southern Europe or to cite the 
instances from foreign writers of the destitution and barrenness 
which have succeeded the continual burning of the forests there. 
As concrete evidence of the destructiveness of numerous small 
fires as can be adduced is the denuded state of a large part of the 
waste sand lands in the south-eastern counties of North Carolina. 
The original forests of long-leaf pine in that section have grad- 
ually been consumed. More, it can be safely said, has been burnt 
than converted into lumber. This lias seriously affected the supply 
of merchantable timber, furthermore, these ravages have largely 
influenced the supply of the future, in its abundance, quality and 
variety, as well as the soil in its ability to sustain a forestal growth. 
Already throughout the eastern section of the State profound 
changes have been induced in the character of the forest flora of 
the uplands and. in places, irreparable damage has been suffered 
by the forest lands. < lhanges, too. have been produced in the char- 
acter of the sylva of the hill country and the mountains. These 
changes, however, are not as generally diffused as those which have 
taken place iu the lower districts, and are less impressive, since 
they have influenced the varieties in a mixed hardwood forest, 
instead of tin' struggle for supremacy between two dissimilar pines 
or between a pine and an oak growth. In connection with the 
destruction of the long-leaf pine forests it can be said that along 
with it is being destroyed one of the most important industries in 
the State — that of gathering and manufacturing resinous products. 
The aggregate of these products has decreased since 1870 over two- 
thirds, with a prospect in the near future of a total failure of the 
industry in this State from the inability to secure new and profitable 



CHANGES PRODUCED IX THE LONG— LEAF PINE FORESTS. 13 

pineries to tap for turpentine, as the old ones, from long continued 
boxing, become unprofitable and are abandoned. 

THE CHANGES PRODUCED IX THE LONG-LEAF PINE FORESTS BY FIRES. 

North of the Neuse rivee the long-leaf pine formerly extended 
over the drier sandy land, in an almost unbroken forest, as far 
north as southern Virginia. This pine has gradually been killed 
out by tires or removed for commercial purposes, so that but 
little of the original forest growth now remains. Fortunately there 
has been a tree ready to take its place, the value of which, for lum- 
ber, is but little less than that of the long-leaf pine. This tree 
is the loblolly pine, which is known throughout the eastern section 
of this State as short-leaf, rosemary, old field or swamp pine. Mixed 
with this second-growth loblolly pine is a vigorous undergrowth of 
young post, white and red oaks. These, however, do not reach 
sufficient size to enter into construction, since, after reaching a 
diameter of fifteen or twenty inches, they generally succumb 
to internal decay, the soil being unsuited to their growth. This 
replacement of the long-leaf pine by the loblolly has been so 
gradual that in places the forest appears, as it stands to-day, to be 
composed of a mixed growth of these two species. The fact is 
significant, however, that nowhere is there any young growth of 
the long-leaf pine. All trees of that species are mature trees, 
while the loblolly pine is seen in all stages of development from 
tender seedlings to trees in full maturity. 

South of the Neuse rivee the effects of the fires have been 
more marked. The upland soils in this south-east section are of 
two kinds, the sandy loams which form the level piue lands and 
the sandy soils which form the pine sand-hills. This sand occurs 
in a loose layer, from a few inches to many feet in thickness, lying 
above the more fertile loams. The loams are similar in character 
to the greater part of the soils found north of the Neuse river, and 
on them, south as well as north of the Neuse river, the loblolly 
pine and a heterogeneous growth of small oaks have superseded 
the long-leaf pine. On the sand-hills the destruction of the long- 
leaf pine has been accompanied by no aftergrowth of loblolly 
pine, so that the result of the burnings is large areas of waste 



14 FOREST FIRES. 

land covered only with a scattering growth of the sand black-jack 
oak, and other scrub oaks, or entirely denuded. The largest tracts 
of this waste land lie in the eastern counties of New Hanover, 
Wayne, Duplin, Pender, Onslow, Bladen, Columbus, Harnett, 
Sampson, Robeson, Brunswick and Moore. 

The United States census of lxso gives the area of the waste 
lands in these counties to be 105,705 acres. This included only 
the waste lands attached to farms, as old fields and fallow lands. 
An examination of these counties undertaken by the North Caro- 
lina Geological Survey in 1893 revealed the fact that the area of 
waste or unproductive forest lands then amounted to over 400,000 
acres. 

This entire area, amounting to about one-tenth of the acreage of 
these counties, has been reduced to its present condition almost 
entirely through the agency of fire. Besides the above, there are 
extensive areas of thinly timbered pine land far exceeding in 
extent the area of the waste lands. These are turpentine orchards, 
either still being worked or abandoned, the trees in which have 
been continually tapped for turpentine for twenty years or more, 
and now have their ranks so thinned as to scarcely deserve the name 
of woodland. The mature trees have one by one been destroyed 
by fire or prostrated by wind, broken where the collar of the bolt- 
was weakened by the deep turpentine boxes. There is nothing 
remarkable in the fact that the forests have become thinned by tin- 
usage of a century, but their openness below and the fact that no 
young pines are seen taking their place are worthy of the utmost 
consideration. 

The loblolly pine although it quickly, by its winged seed and 
the frequency of its seeding, gains possession of lands with a moist 
or loamy soil and attains a medium size, producing a fair grade of 
timber, is yet incapable of growing on the dry, sandy land which 
forms a proportionately large part of the area of these south-east- 
ern counties. Indeed if it once succeeds in gaining a foothold on 
the sand land, where the soil has been cultivated, it is incapable 
of maintaining there an uninterrupted growth until it becomes a 
large tree. It is naturally a tree of the lowlands, or rather of the 
better class of moist or wet loams, and when it does succeed in 



THE SEED AND SEEDING OF THE LONG— LEAF PINE. 15 

growing on the sandy Lands under such altered conditions it forms 

only a low growth, with holes short and knotty. Besides rarely 
ever reaching a height of over fifty feet, it is subject in such situa- 
tions to "dry-rot" or "red-heart." Associated with the long- 
leaf pine on this sterile soil are the sand black-jack oak and the 
highland willow oak, both of them '-scrub oaks" incapable of 
yielding timber, and forming beneath the pines only a low and 
open growth. The litter of these oaks, with the dry wire-grass 
and broom-grass of the barrens, forms the fuel for the destructive 
fires. 

CAUSE OF DECADENCE OF THE LONG-LEAF PINE. 

As this is a subject of the utmost importance involving the timber 
growth, or rather the lack of timber growth, on an area of over 
half a million acres, it may he well to give more fully some of the 
causes which have, in conjunction with the tires, played important 
parts in the reduction of these areas to their present state of unpro- 
ductiveness, and some of the peculiarities of the morphology and life 
process of the long-leaf pine which prevent it from succeeding 
in the struggle for existence with its competitors, while they success- 
fully overcome the conditions imposed by man upon forest growth. 
As a comparison of the differences between the ] lines of this region 
and their relations to their environments has been discussed in a 
previous bulletin of the Survey, only a resume of the salient points 
will here he given. Thes,' will embody the reason why the long- 
leaf pine fails while the loblolly pine thrives, even on what was 
once undebatable ground, entirely within the territory of pure 
long-leaf pine growth. The fructification, the seed, the seedling, 
life period and hardiness of the long-leaf pine, considered in 
their connection with tires, have important bearings on this subject. 

THE SEED AND SEEDING OF THE LONG-LEAF PINE. 

The long-leaf pine, with its fertility impaired by the drain on 
its vital resources due to the removal of the turpentine by boxing, 
produces seed abundantly only at irregular and infrequent inter- 
vals. A large pine mast occurred in 1845, another in 1*72, 
and in 1892 there was a third, after an interval of twenty years. 



16 FORKS!' FIRES. 

Iii intermediate years the production of mast was small and local- 
ized. Since 1892 there has been no long-leaf pine mast at all in 
(•astern North ( 'arolina. 

A great proportion of its ^-i-A. which arc between one-fourth and 
one-half an inch long, are destroyed by fowls, rodents and hogs, 
which prefer this to all other kinds of mast. The seed, after falling 
as the cones open, during October and November and through the 
winter, are entirely exposed to these varied attacks until the}' have 
germinated and securely rooted, which happens in the following 
spring if the mast is late in falling, or, as is more often the case, if 
the mast falls in a warm, moist autumn season it germinates at once. 

GROWTH OF THE LONG-LEAF PINK. 

The Seedling. — The growth of the young seedling of the long- 
leaf pine is exceedingly slow. The greater part of the vital vigor 
of the young plant is directed towards the root-system, which 
consists of an oblong, spindle-shaped tap-root with numerous fine 
mots diverting from its lower end. The tap-root increases rapidly 
in length, being fifteen to twenty inches long and one and one-half 
inches in diameter when the plant is only live years old. The stem, 
even until the fourth or fifth year, remains nearly stationary in 
height and only slowly increases in thickness to correspond with 
the increased diameter of the tap-root. It is during this stage of its 
development that the greatest number, perhaps as much as nine- 
tenths, of the young pines are destroyed. Being for so long a time 
stemless and surrounded by high grass, as is the case in the open 
woodland or where the merchantable trees have been removed, the 
young long-leaf pine, on account of its small size and tender- 
ness, is liable to be killed or consumed by tires during a period 
three or four times as long as the loblolly pine or the scrub oaks 
in similar situations. A passing fire is apt to destroy nearly every 
seedling pine in its course. The hogs also destroy a great number 
of them in this early stage of their growth, by rooting them up to 
eat their large, succulent roots. Through these two agencies the 
greater part of the young pine growth is destroyed before it becomes 
fairly started in life. 



GROWTH OF THE LONG-LEAF PINE. 17 

Later Stalks of Growth. — At the termination of the first four 
or five years of growth, which may be said to form the seedling 
stage of existence, rapid height-growth begins. During the first 
few years of this period of height-growth the body axis rapidly 
develops in length at the expense of thickness, forming long, 
wand-like stems. During this period of its life wind-storms inflict 
severe damage upon the young growth, snapping off the slender 
stems or bending the flexible ones into inextricable masses. Fires, 
too, are still capable of doing great damage, since the loose, thin 
bark affords but slight protection to the living wood against heat. 
The resulting damage, however, will be must severe from spring 
fires, which occur when the new wood is forming and the leaves 
shooting. After a height of twenty to twenty-five feet is reached 
the height-growth is accompanied by rapid increase in diameter, 
and throughout the rest of the life period neither height nor diame- 
ter-growth alone takes place at the expense of proportional devel- 
opment elsewhere. 

On the better class of soils at the expiration of twenty-five or 
thirty years the trees have attained a height of thirty to thirty-five 
feet and a proportionate diameter of ten to twelve inches. The 
rate of height-growth probably reaches its maximum before the 
twentieth year and gradually decreases after that time; being rapid 
from about the twentieth to the fiftieth year, averaging from eight 
to ten inches a year: being moderate from the fiftieth to the 
eightieth year, averaging six to eight inches a year in height; after 
that period being slow, not averaging over two to four inches in 
height-growth during each growing season. 

The diameter-growth is slow until about the fifteenth to twentieth 
year and extremely rapid after that until the fortieth to fiftieth 
year, when it becomes considerably slower. These variations in the 
manner and rate of growth apply only to forest trees; that is, trees 
grown in large bodies with a thick stand, so as to fully shade the 
ground and crowd and overtop each other as soon as height-growth 
is fairly under way. While these laws of the rate of accretion, or 
increase in volume of wood, are deduced from the rate of growth' 
of what is called old-field growth, where growth began simultaue- 



18 FOREST FIRES. 

ously with all trees, they are probably applicable to isolated young 
pines appearing in a hardwood growth or to young pines spring- 
ing up in a pine forest where the mature ti - ees are thick. Entirely 
different laws, however, govern the rate of growth of isolated speci- 
mens, or where the young trees are far apart; in which cases from 
the start there is rapid diameter-growth and crown development at 
the expense of height-growth and clear, straight stems. 

In the boxed trees which now constitute so large a part of the 
long-leaf pine forests, practically all of the merchantable timber 
having been boxed, the rate of growth is exceedingly slow, ten or 
twelve years being required for one inch in diameter to be gained, 
and the annual increase in height not being over one to two inches. 

The long-leaf pine in the forest forms no appreciable quantity of 
wood between the first and sixth years, and very little between the 
sixth and fifteenth years. During the next thirty years it adds 
rapidly to its bulk, and then begins a gradual decrease in the 
volume of wood added, which decrease continues normally at a 
uniform rate until old age destroys the specimen. 

VALUE OF DETERMINING THE RATE OF GROWTH. 

While a small tree, ten to twelve inches in diameter and all sap- 
wood, serves admirably for the manufacture of resiuous products, 
it is only after a very much longer period of growth that a tree 
reaches a size suitable fur saw-logs. This period is dependent, of 
course, on the rapidity of growth, which varies some with difference 
of soil. If heart timber is desired, and this is the only kind which 
is in demand so far as the long-leaf pine is concerned, the time 
required for a forest crop to reach maturity, when the trees have 
attained a size large enough for applying them to all uses, is cer- 
tainly not less than one hundred years. This pine is about twenty- 
five years old before the heart-wood begins to form, and after that 
time, speaking in a general way, a ring of heart-wood is formed 
internally for every ring of sap-wood added to the periphery. So 
that to estimate the time required for the growth of trees with the 
heart-wood of a specified diameter the twenty-five peripheral rings 
of sap-wood must be taken into account, as well as the decrease in 
the rate of diameter-growth after the fortieth or fiftieth year. 



SUMMARY. 19 

The accumulated wood in the long-leaf pine trees, which form 
the forests as they stand to-day, represents the results of not less 
than one hundred and fifty years of uninterrupted growth and 
probably more than one hundred and seventy-five years; that is, 
the trees range in age from one hundred to two hundred and fifty 
years, while all of the trees less than one hundred years old, or a hunt 
two-thirds of the forest body, have been killed out by tires or pre- 
vented by them from developing. 

SUMMARY. 

The infrequency of the seeding of the long-leaf pine enables trees 
which seed more frequently to prepossess the ground. Its slow 
growth renders it more liable to he killed in the tender, seedling 
stage. Its seed as well as the roots are eaten by hogs. Its slender 
stem makes it more easily broken off during the sapling stage. It 
does not bear seed until five or six years later than the loblolly 
pine of the same age. In all stages of growth, on account of the 
thin bark, it is exceedingly sensitive to tire and heat, which, with- 
out burning them at all, frequently kill large trees. When a tree 
is but partially scorched the borers attack it and finally kill it. 
Vigorous trees between eighteen and thirty years old, which have 
a thick, firm bark, appear to be least injured by spring fires. 

DESTRUCTION OF PINK TIMBEE BY FOREST FIRES. 

In spite of the hogs, if fires had been kept off of these long- 
leaf pine lands during the past sixty years, or since the exten- 
sive tapping for resin began (about 1835), the forest density would 
now probably be no less than it was before that period. The trees 
which are now being removed for lumber could still have been 
taken and with good results; for those left would have grown witli 
renewed vigor as the thinning was carried on. It appears that at 
least one-half of the standing timber has been destroyed by tire 
and the loss to the people from this item alone lias been immense. 
The low price of long-leaf pine lands is a source of constant dis- 
satisfaction to its owners, while the truth of the matter is that at 
least one-half of the merchantable timber has been burnt off, and 



20 FOREST FIRES. 

smaller trees which would have become merchantable timber have 
hern prevented from doing so by the forest fires. 

FOREST FIRES \ CAUSE OF THE DECREASE IN NAVAL STORE PRODUCTS. 

For the past eighteen years there has been a constant decrease 
in the output of naval store products in this State. This is directly 
due in the fact that the existing orchards are becoming exhausted. 
Since 1830 the fluctuations of the exports of resinous products 
from Wilmington have been indices of the prosperity of the indus- 
try in the entire State; so that to say that the exports of rosin from 
Wilmington fell from 700,000 barrels in 1870 to 150,000 barrels in 
1880, to 385,000 in 1890, and to 200,000 in 1894, merely expresses 
the rate of the decline in production for the State. An examina- 
tion of the lands of the pine belt completed in the spring of 1894 
disclosed the fact that then' were, at that time, only 55,000 acres 
of original growth leng-leaf pine timber which had not been 
boxed; and only 33,000 acres of young growth long-leaf pine 
which had become trees, or which had reached a sufficient size to 
insure their becoming of commercial value; and some of this had 
already been tapped for turpentine. As has been stated before, 
this young growth lies almost entirely in what were at one time 
old fields, or enclosures by win ;h it was protected from tires and 
hogs. Only in Xew Hanover county has any considerable amount 
of young growth been observed on forest lands; and there a law 
prohibiting stock from roaming at large through the forest lands 
has been in force for a number of years. 

When the producer of turpentine burns his woods to keep them 
open and facilitate the collection of turpentine he fails to consider 
that all the young growth, from the youngest seedling to the mature 
stock, represents so much invested capital : and that the fully mature 
lives alone represenl the accrued dividends, which ought to be so 
utilized as in no way to interfere with the great productive portion 
of the capital. In neglecting this the productive body has been 
destroyed as worthless, while the mature trees, which represented 
only one crop evolved from it, were held as the only prize. 

However deleterious to the mature trees may be the system of 
collecting resin which is in use throughout the United States, its 



THE EXHAUSTION OF THE LONG— LEAF PINE FORESTS. '2 1 

destructive results are insignificant as compared with those produced 
by using fire to keep down the "troublesome growth" of youug 
pines. The entire forest reserve lias been made subservient to the 
means used to lighten the labors of those engaged in the collection 
of these forests by-products. 

THE EXHAUSTION OF THE LONG-LEAF PINE FORESTS. 

The exhaustion of the long-leaf pine forests of this State may 
be looked for now at no distant date. The waning turpentine indus- 
try will hold its own, as an industry of some importance, possibly 
for ten years longer, though there will certainly be a steady decrease 
in its yield each year. The production has possibly been stimulated 
during the past two years by the fact that while the agricultural 
products of this section were depressed in price the prices for the 
better grades of resinous products have, on the whole, been more 
favorable and the demand firm. With a general rise in the prices 
of farm products the working of many turpentine orchards would 
probably be relinquished. 

The long-leaf pine lumber industry has probably reached its 
maximum expansion in this State, and its decadence when once 
set in will be rapid. The largest bodies of compact forest are in 
the counties of Moore, northern Richmond and eastern Montgomery. 
These will last for ten years if the drain upon them continues at the 
present rate and there are no large fires; but there probably will 
be many fires. Two of the largest tires since 1890 have occurred 
in this dist rict, consuming or damaging timber to the value of over 
$200,000. 

[NCREASE IN THE AREA OF WASTE LONG-LEAF PINE I. ANUS. 

Including both the forest lands and the old fields and fallows, 
there are now at least 600,000 acres of waste or unproductive land. 
This area, as large as it is, may lie expected to increase during the 
next decade to about 1,000,000 acres, as lumbering proceeds on the 
sand-hills, where no loblolly pine succeeds the long-leaf pine. 
About 75,000 acres of this sandy land are yearly denuded to furnish 
the output of 150,000,000 feet, board measure, of yellow pine lum- 



rl FOREST FIRES. 

ber; and the greater part of the land, having served what is regarded 
as its final use, is left uncared for and kept, by the continual burn- 
ings, idle and unproductive, covered only with scrub oaks which 
withstand the fires. 

THE NEED TO PROMPTLY STOP FIRING THE PINE BARRENS. 

In 1892 there was an abundant and generally distributed long- 
leaf pine mast. The young seedlings from this were to be seen 
everywhere the next spring, but a large part of them have already 
been destroyed. Even on lands which have been lumbered, severely 
burnt or worked for turpentine for a long period and then abandoned 
a good many years ago. and which had only one or two mature old 
seed-bearing trees of lung-leaf pine to the acre, there were in the 
spring of 1893, following this heavy long-leaf pine mast, hun- 
dreds of young seedlings to be seen scattered among the young 
scrub oaks or beneath the old ones. Given half a chance and they 
would all have grown. Many of them are still left; and no greater 
benefit could be conferred upon the south-eastern section of this 
State than to have these pines protected, and allow them to grow. 

Although these south-eastern counties have for so long supplied 
such a huge amount of high-grade timber, it is nevertheless a fact 
that in many places good timber, for domestic uses, is becoming 
scarce. With all the timber being cut for shipment and none 
reserved tor home use in the future, and all the young growth 
which would in time make timber being killed by the fires, there 
is no reserve timber which can be relied upon to meet the demands 
even of the next few decades. If these young pines are all killed 
out, it means just so much loss to the people: and it is the people, 
individually and as a body, who should take steps to prevent this 
result. No effort should be spared by them to protect the young 
seedlings where any are yet to he found and to see that they are 
enabled to grow into mature trees. 

It is only by so doing that the timber supply of this region, even 
in the near future, can be made a certainty. It will probably be 
many years before there will again be a mast of the long-leaf pine 
equaling the recent one, either in distribution or in abundance, and 



THE EXHAUSTION OF THE LONG-LEAF PINE FORESTS. 23 

in the meanwhile a large number of the seed-bearing trees in large 
bodies, or the stunted trees left in lumbering, or the scattered trees 
in the turpentine orchard, will have been destroyed, so that neither 
the aggregate number of the young seedlings nor the uniform thick- 
ness of the stand can possibly he so great again in the near future as 
at the present time. It is no more difficult to give the necessary pro- 
tection now than it would be at a. future date, while the benefits 
derived from prompt action and careful watching will now be mani- 
fold. Xo one, who has at all investigated the situation, will deny 
that the young long-leaf pine growth must at some time be afforded 
protection, if there is ever to lie a regrowth of lumber trees in this 
section on the sandy soils. 

EFFECTS OF BURNING OX PINES, CYPRESS, CEDARS AND BALSAMS. 

The effects of fires on the long-leaf pine seedling have already 
been stated. One and two-year-old loblolly and short-leaf pines 
will sometimes shoot from the roots if burnt down; and these trees 
by reason of their rapid growth and thick hark are little injured by 
ordinary tires after they have reached a height of fifteen feet and 
a diameter of four inches; the large trees of both of these species 
have thick and close barks. The pocosin pine, like the pitch pine 
(the black pine of the piedmont counties), has remarkable recupera- 
tive powers, young seedlings when burnt down for several con- 
secutive years still continuing to sprout from the stump or roots, 
and fair-sized saplings when killed above put up root sprouts. 
These root sprouts, however, do not make large or vigorous trees. 
White pine seedlings growing on dry ridges with oaks are very ten- 
der and do not put up again after being killed down. 

( lypress swamps, even in very dry seasons, are rarely burnt over, 
and although when this happens the damage to large trees is 
usually small that to the younger trees and shrubs is considera- 
ble. Small cypress, however, if under three inches in diameter, 
will frequently sprout from the stump. Neither red cedar nor 
white ceihir (juniper) probably sprout again after having been 
burnt down. Oaks or pines often take the place of a growth of 
red cedar; and the white and sweet bays and gums will take the 
place of a growth of white cedar if the soil is not too peaty for 



24 FOREST FIRES. 

their growth. The forests of black spruce and Carolina balsam 
along the summits of the highest mountains arc sometimes burned. 
The seedlings of neither species sprout again. A growth of wild 
red cherry (peruvian) mixed with some black cherry and yellow 
birch forms the aftergrowth, which is in time supplanted by the 
spruce and firs again. The hemlock-spruce (spruce-pine), owing to 
the damp places of its growth, is rarely injured by tire. Neither 
it, however, nor the Carolina hemlock sprout from the stump or 
roots after the stems have been cul or burnt. 

BROAD— LEAVED (MI DECIDUOUS— LEAVED TREES. 

The oaks vary a great deal in their behavior after a tire. Nearly 
all of them, if young and vigorous, will sprout from the roots after 
the tup lias been injured. While this is true, their sprouts, like 
those of most other trees under similar conditions, are never certain 
to make large or sound trees. As the dead stock decays an open- 
ing ui' scar is apt to lie left at the foot of the tree, in which rot is 
almost certain to begin sooner or later. This seems in he nun-. 
certain in the case of black and red oaks than in the case of white 
oaks, which latter, it seems, are attacked by fewer rot-causing 
diseases than the red oaks. 

But few of the oaks sucker if the hurning is repeated many times 
in succession. While the trees from shoots are usually unsound,, 
those from suckers are decidedly short-lived and are much affected 
by drought, owing to the fact that their rool systems are superficial 
and they have no tap-roots or deep-seated lateral roots. This is 
well known to he the case with apple stock in which the grafts 
have been made on suckers instead of upon seedlings. The oaks 
which sucker most seem to grow on sandy or light soils: the live 
oak, the laurel-leaved oak, sometimes the post oak and sometimes 
the high-ground willow oak and the water oak. Young trees of 
the Spanish, black and scrub oaks arc capable of withstanding a 
tire which would kill outright equal-sized trees of the white and, 
probably, of the post oaks. Home of these trees, as the black-jack, 
seem to be, as far as an ordinary leaf or brush fire is concerned, 
nearly fire-proof. Sapling red oaks, too, in the higher mountains 
are very hardy. 



THE EFFECTS OF FIRES ON BROAD-LEAVED TREES. -■> 

While all of the hickories and the white and black walnuts are 
extremely sensitive towards tire, they all sprout more or less from 
the nmt or collar when young. Some of them, as the white 
hickory, will even sprout, when six to eight inches in diameter, if 
killed down in the early spring when the sap is rising, though if 
killed later in summer they will not sprout at all. The birches all 
sprout, some from the roots, while sapling beeches it' top-killed 
will frequently sucker besides. Young sour-wood treessprout freely 
if killed down. Black gums; are hardy and even when young arc 
nut much injured; hut while sweet gums are more injured they 
put up vigorous root shoots. The Ailianthus ("tree of heaven"), 
which lias in many places made itself at home in the woods, and 
which affords a valuable timber, suckers so a- to form dense thickets 
of young shoots, even when trees twelve to eighteen inches in diame- 
ter are top-killed by lire: and especially is this so if the tn 
in the open or under a light cover. The white hay in the lower dis- 
trict suckers from the constant burning, so as to form dense clumps 
live lo ten yards in diameter of low, scrubby trees; and in places. 
hut more rarely, the same is true of the yellow locust in the 
mountains. The chestnut is one of the few useful trees, which is 
not only fairly hardy, hut also when killed down sprouts vigor- 
ously and abundantly, and its sprouts reach a large size. But 
even it cannot continually propagate itself in this manner, and 
unless the woods a r< ■ renewed by seedlings with fresh life and 
vigorous roots the chestnut, too, will begin to become scarce 

All of the trees which arc especially worthy of protection, on 
account of their economic value, are greatly injured by tires. But 

some of the most valuable hardw Is. as the white oak. hickories, 

chestnut and locust, succeed in securing a stand after light fires. 

Leaf fires in the late spring burn up the seed of the elms, as 
they ripen and drop their seed in March and April. Fires during 
the winter and early spring are apt to destroy the germinating 
powers of most seed then on the ground. The seed of several of 
the hickories, the more valuable ones, the walnuts, the buckeye 
and some of the oaks can resist considerable heat. A few trees, 
such as the soft maples and the box elder, ripen their seed in sum- 
mer and as they sprout at once there is no chance for them to be 



26 FOREST FIRES. 

destroyed before at least making a start. The scorching leaf fire, 
though, destroys thousands of seed in every acre of woodland 
through whirl) it passes. 

EFFF.CT OF BURNING S.S SEEN IN THE COMPOSITION OF THE FOREST. 

If the tires are merely leaf-fires, as are most of the tires in the 
hill country of this State, but are regularly repeated, the seedlings 
of tender kinds are kept killed down, while those of kinds which 
.In not sproul from the runt are killed outright. This in the end, 
after repeated burnings, will make the forest composed almost en- 
tirely of trees which sprout from the stump or roots, and only the 
hardiest of these will survive, no matter whether they may be valu- 
able or worthless. This is seen in the way the hardier oak growth 
has taken the place of the pines in many places in the eastern sec- 
tion of the Slate: for when protected from tires, as in old fields and 
in enclosures, the aftergrowth is almost of unmixed pines. 

In the middle section the hardier black and black-jack oaks are 
taking the place of the hickories and. in places, of the white and 
post oaks, while the young growth of the tulip poplar has entirely 
disappeared from over certain areas, or is confined to the moist 
lauds along streams. In the upper districts the sourwood, from 
its rapid growth and readiness of sprouting, lias become exceed- 
ingly abundant, to the exclusion of more valuable trees. In the 
lower mountains the scarlet and black oaks have been enabled to 
greatly increase their numbers from their hardiness, while at highei 
elevation-, whcie the chestnut is comtaon, there are found groves 
of open chestnut woods, the trees short-bodied and broad-crowned, 
where there was at one time a mixed forest of red and chestnut 
oaks, and other trees. Here the chestnut, from its power of pro- 
ducing vigorous shoots, has alone been able to maintain itself, while 
other trees, which are accounted unusually hardy, have largely suc- 
cumbed. Such groves are not infrequent, on southern slopes, 
through the forests of the Appalachian plateau, between 2,500 and 
1,500 feet elevation. few young trees are to he seen anywhere 
among the chestnuts. The red and chestnut oaks and the chestnut 
are the most common trees on southern hill-sides and slopes in the 
higher mountains. Everywhere they are seen in varying propor- 






FIRES CAUSE DECAY AND HOLLOWS AT BASES OF TREES. '21 

tions, according as they haw been injured by fire, in which case 
the chestnuts outnumber the other species; or the nuts eaten bj 
bogs, when the young red oaks become the more numerous, since 
the fastidious hog prefers the sweet nuts of the chestnut and the 
chestnut oak to the bitter acorn of the red oak. But slight damage 
is wrought by fire to the forests of the higher mountains on northern 
slopes, owing to their openness, the dampness of their humus, and 
their never having been lumbered or extensively culled, and hence 
not being encumbered with lops or thickets which would furnish 
fuel fur tires. 

FIRES CAUSE DECAY AND HOLLOWS \T BASES OE FOREST TREES. 

The greater uumber of the hollow, immature and undersized 
chestnuts, yellow poplars and oaks in the middle and western coun- 
ties were firmed either directly or indirectly through tires. Fires 
scorch small s]H>ts near the bases of trees, which cause the death of 
the liber or generative tissue from which the tree increases in diam- 
eter. The hark then becomes loosened, or falls off, over the spot, 
and the t i'ee presents nil its surface a layer of dead sap-wood. The 
sap-wood of most trees is, as is well known, mure subject to the 
attacks of insects, borers, beetles, etc.. and to rot than is their heart- 
wood. If the hark is merely loosened insects will quickly enter 

the spot, and will channel sometimes into the heart-w 1. Through 

their openings air and water afterwards enter, leaving the germs of 
decaj . In this way the entire interior of the base of a tree may be 
made hollow and, the bark remaining intact, .exhibit no signs "l 
tie rottenness which is within. 

If the hark falls off immediately from the burning the dead sap- 
wood is then directly exposed to rot, and fungi in the shape of 
punk, or mushroom-like excrescences, grow upon it. These ami 
their representatives in lower ami more obscure forms are the 
causes of rot. Their roots, as their vegetative parts may here be 
called, in the shape of minute white threads, penetrate the dead 
wood, at first the dead sap-wood and then the heart, and break 
down the structure of the wood, so that finally great hollows are 
left. Successive fires, to<>, will gradually eat into the dry and dead- 
ened wood, and not only burn out the heart-wood but consume 



28 FOREST FIRES. 

the walls of sap-wood. The base of the stork is finally greatly 
weakened, and storms prostrate thousands of such specimens whose 
stems above the hollow huts are perfectly sound. Or if they stand. 
the rot and the fire will gradually destroy so large a portion of the 
cylinder of heart-wood that the value of the tree for lumber will be 
greatly lessened. All such, however, will finally windfall. 

EFFECTS OF BURNING ON THE SOILS OF FORESTS. 

Burnings probably produce few changes in the inorganic parts 
of soil; at least, such as may be produced, are unimportant. But 
all the organic ingredients which lay on the surface are destroyed ; 
and peaty soils, which have a large proportion of inorganic mate- 
rial intermixed throughout their whole structure, are often seri- 
ously damaged by having this organic matter consumed so as to 
have their industrial value lessened or destroyed 

HUMUS AM) ITS FUNCTIONS 

One of the most important requirements of forest growth is the 
humus, which is the accumulation beneath the trees of fresh and 
decaying organic matter, mostly shed by the trees themselves in 
the shape of leaves, or by the undergrowth beneath the trees. 

While humus, of course, cannot take the place of inorganic soil, 
it largely supplements it in its chemical relations, and besides per 
forms important physical functions in connection with tree life. 
Its depth and richness depend to some extent on the character of 
the soil and the kind of growth which it supports. It is deeper 
usually under broad-leaved trees than under conifers, and under 
trees like beach and maple than under oaks. 

for the trees of North Carolina its depth and the rapidity of its 
accumulation are almosl directly dependent upon the shade-bear- 
ing power of the trees producing it. There are a few exceptions to 
this, as the black spruce, which, though shade-enduring, forms only 
a poor humus, and the tulip poplar, which, though light-enduring, 
forms a humus of good quality. 

Humus a Resevoie fob Water. — Humus is exceedingly hydro- 
scopic. The interlihrous capillary meshes and net-work absorb 
water, or even moisture, with the readiness of a sponge. During a 



HUMUS AND [TS FUNCTIONS. 29 

rain M imbibes water until saturated, which adds greatly to its value 
on hill-sides, where, if the ground were naked, all the water which 
fell, and which the soil did not at once absorb, would drain off super- 
ficially. In the humus, or mold, it is stored away and gradually 
given up to the soil beneath, as that becomes drier through evapo- 
ration from the trees or through subsoil drainage. The importance 
of preserving this humus is seen, too, in the fad that it equalizes the 
flow of water in our rivers and streams, and, besides holding in 
check the great freshets, enables more water to be utilized in dry 
seasons by the hundreds of cotton, woolen and grist mills in the 
Siate which depend upon water for their motive power. 

The evaporation from compact humus is less than from soil in 
similar situations, since the heat-conducting power of humus is 
less. Every agriculturist realizes the value of this fact, and util- 
izes forest litter as a mulch for retaining moisture in the soil. To 
the sylviculturist, or grower of trees, this property of humus is of 
especial importance. One of the paramount requisites for tree 
growth is moisture. Indeed, next to the physical properties of soil 
none other of its qualities seem- to be more influential in deter- 
mining the character of the fores! growth than the proportion of 
moisture present. 

Another property of humus mentioned above is that it is a poor 
conductor of heat. For this reason it is affected by sudden thermal 
changes less readily than drier soil is. The value of humus to 
woodland in this relation was fully exemplified during the spring 
of 1894, at the time of the sudden and late frost. The severe frost 
of April, besides destroying the foliage and nuts of all white 
hickories, which are the most abundant and valuable hickories in 
the middle district of North Carolina, killed hundreds of these trees. 
The trees killed stood on southern hill-sides or crests, where the 
ground was open and there was no humus, and these trees had par- 
tially leaved out; while no or only slight injury was done to other 
hickories of the same kind which were situated with like aspect but 
in thick growth, and with a good humus around them, and whose 
buds consequently, being less effected by the spring warmth, had 
not yet exfoliated. This method of mulching with humus to delay 
foliation or florescence, as a safeguard against late frosts, is artifi- 
cially practiced by orchardists, especially peach growers. The 



30 FOREST KIKES. 

hickories killed by this freeze were almost entirely mature treeSj 
the young ones being more usually found where there is considera- 
ble undergrowth, and consequently some humus. 

The Beneficial Changes Humus Undergoes. — The chemical 
properties of humus are regarded by agricultural chemists as being 
of the first importance in fanning, and they lose none of their 
value by transference to the forest. The chemical elements found 
in forest humus are, of course, those necessary for the building of 
trees, since the humus is directly derived from this source. The 
natural changes which this humus undergoes are such as are most 
beneficial for the growth of the surrounding forest, and show the 
power (if organic life to husband its resources and render available 
for its own nutrition the products derived from the disorganization 
of its own wa.-tes. 

Humus, by its decay, forms organic acids, and these in turn form 
salts by combining with the mineral bases, potash, lime, soda and 
magnesia, which exist as such in the leaf tissues. These salts, like 
the humus itself, are only slightly soluble in water, and this pre- 
vents them from being entirely washed out by drainage, and their 
usefulness, as far as the soil of that locality is concerned, being for- 
ever lost. 

Sooner or later, however, these compounds undergo another 
change, combining with stronger acids of the soil, when their fixa- 
tion is complete, and they return to the original or similar com- 
pounds from which they were primarily derived by plant life. 

Ammonia, or nitrogen, in the form of compounds available to the 
living plant, is one of the expensive constituents of many com- 
mercial fertilizers, and is one of the bases of their value. The 
nitrogenous waste from humus is in the form of ammonia combined 
with some of the plant acids, <>r other organic compounds, or with 
part or all of these compounds replaced by a mineral acid. Finally 
most of it becomes fixed in the soil as nitrates of alkalies, lime, 
magnesia, potash or soda. In this manner the valuable nitrogen is 
again brought back to the soil to enter into the formation of plants 

EFFECTS OF FIRES O.N HUMUS. 

fires interrupt this process, which nature has perfected for con- 
serving its energy. They consume all that part of the humus which 



EFFECTS OF FIRES (>N lit Ml s. ■"> 1 

lies upon the surface of the earth. Bu( they produce changes of 
more consequence than mere interruption. By the burning the 
humus is reduced to ash, while the volatile parts and the gases of 
the combustion pass off as smoke. There are included in these 
gases of the smoke the carbon or charcoal part of the humus, and 
other elements, which would have yielded, in connection with this, 
organic or earthy acids, had decay continued under normal condi- 
tions. The most valuable compound, which is in this way de- 
stroyed, is the ammonia, or nitrogenous part of the humus. The 
heat volatilizes this, or sets it free from the complex bodies of which 
it formed a part, and it is dissipated in the air. 

All that the lire leaves is a small quantity of lose ashes. The 
first wind that comes can blow it entirely away, so far as that local- 
ity i- concerned. Although they look alike the ash from the pines 
and from the broad-leaved or deciduous-leaved trees differ much 
in the proportion of the different alkalies and other compounds of 
which they are formed. That from the pine contains more of the 
alkaline ingredients that are soluble in water, almost one-half of 
their weight being thus soluble, while only about one-sixth of the 
weight of ordinary hardwood ash can ho dissolved in water. If the 
country is at all hilly the water of the first heavy rain that falls, 
since u now has no humus to hold it in check, will bear off all the 
soluble portion oi' the ash. 

A ureal part of the insoluble ash will in like manner he washed 
away — if the country is steep and the rain heavy, practically all 
of it. since, being light and loose, it does not offer the resistance that 
compact earth does. The soluble parts are decidedly the most 
valuable. In both pine and hardwood ashes they consist chiefly of 
sulphuric acid, potash ami soda, while the insoluble parts are 
largely lime, iron and sand in pine ash. ami lime with small quan- 
tities of magnesia ami phosphoric acid in those from hardwoods. 

This burning thus robs the burnt lands of their available min- 
eral salts, on which fertility i- so largely dependent. If persisted 
in it eventually greatly lessens the productive power of even the 
best of soils, especially in hilly or mountainous districts. 

It is fortunate that the pine forests of North Carolina, in which 
SO much burning is practiced, grow for tin- most part in plains and 



32 



FOREST FIRE! 



upon sandj 7 or gravelly soils, which allow ready percolation by 
the rain water and afford quick fixation of the alkaline and other 
parts of the ash. By this fixation the soluble part of the ash — and, 
as has hccn said, over 50 per cent, of pine-wood ash is soluble — is 
made less soluble, so that drainage water will not hear it oil'. This 
fixation may or may not affect it- availability, so far as the plant 
is concerned. About that, as yet. very little is known. 

II XIX SOILS 

Moreover, there are soils which are largely made up of humus. 
There are peaty or highly organic soils chiefly in the north-eastern 
section of the State, around the Dismal swamp, in Hyde and Dare 
counties, and areas of smaller extent hut similar in character in 
Pamlico, Lenoir, Duplin and Bladen counties. These soils are 
either those which from intermixture of sand and their capa- 
bility of being drained are suitable for tillage or those which 
"sour" ami arc usually too low lor complete drainage. The first 
kind frequently rests on a bed of green sand or marl, and before 
cleared — for such land is now largely cleared — was covered with 
cypress, gums and tulip poplars: much of it, too. was once lakes 
that have filled in with detritus; while the second kind, which is 
"sour," heai- a growth of white cedar (juniper) or white hay and 
has usually passed through the successive stages of a sphagnum 
hot; before reaching its present condition. 

The sour or peaty lands can lie put to no more profitable use than 
growing white cedar: keep tin- tires out. protect the young growth 
of white cedar and keep it as nearly pure as possible. It is 
decidedly tic most valuable tree of eastern North Carolina; 
besides being an abundant seeder and of rapid growth it is exceed- 
ingly hardy. It is a yearly event, however, to hear of a tire, often 
originating from carelessness, passing through one of these swamps 
and consuming not only the trees both great ami small, hut fre- 
quently burning out the soil until its level is so lowered that white 
cedar will no longer grow upon it. There are thousands of acres 
of timbered swamp lands which have been ruined in this way in 
the Dismal swamp and in such counties as Dare and Hyde : and it 



AREA OF WASTE LAM'S IX NORTH CAROLINA. 33 

frequently happens that peaty lands, even while under cultivation, 
arc burned out and greatly injured. 

DAMAGE TO THE STATE LANDS BY FIRES 

The State Board of Education controls for the educational fund 
of North Carolina a large amount of swamp lands in eastern 
North Carolina. Although some of it is heavily timbered much 
of it shows to the fullest extent the ravages of fire. Some of this 
swamp land which remains unsold has naturally a poor, compact 
soil, and is incapable of sustaining any but an open and scrubby 
forest growth. Some of it, however, which is now largely covered 
with cane-brakes, shows conclusively that it was at one time heavily 
timbered, probably with gums, poplar, oak, and cypress, and that 
innumerable fires have kept the trees killed down while the cane 
has spread until now the timber on the lands is perfectly worth- 
It-- ( considerable areas of these State swamp lands, being regarded 
as belonging to no one in particular but to the public in general, 
have been robbed of their valuable timber, ami are now annually 
tired for the purpose of improving the grazing advantages they 
may oiler for the neighborhood herds of cattle. In this waj' not 
only has the land been robbed of its supply of mature timber, but 
the you lie forest growth also has been destroyed, and thus the 
future timber supply cut oil' in large measure. 

AREA OF WASTE LANDS IX NORTH CAROLINA. 

The census of 1880 gave some interesting and significant figures 
upon the proportion of the area of this State in woodland, in culti- 
vation, and "other lands." which are idle or unproductive. The 
amount of this idle or waste laud given at that date for North Caro- 
lina was 2,000,000 acres, or one-tenth of the entire area of the State 
was lying out as old fields or other waste lands. An investigation 
of the forest lands of the eastern counties, undertaken during 1 893- 
1894 by the Survey, showed that then.' were in the long-leaf pine 
counties alone, those counties lying south of the Neuse river and 
east of Montgomery county, over 400,000 acres of sandy forest lauds 
which were producing no valuable forest growth, and under the 



•34 FOREST FIRES. 

present negligent management arc not likely in the future to do so. 
This is partly land which, after being lumbered, lias been burnt 
over, or the tree growth, by the many repeated burnings, has grad- 
ually been reduced from long-leaf pine forests to scrub-oak thickets, 
with still a few scattered pines upon it. 

The area of the waste lands in other sections of the State has cer- 
tainly increased considerably in the past fifteen years, so that it can 
he liu exaggeration — in fact, it is a decidedly small estimate — to 
say that there are now in North Carolina over 3,000,000 acres of 
waste or unproductive land, including old fields, bramble lands, 
and forest lands with only a growth of scrub oaks. This makes 
about one-eighth of the entire area of the State which is at the 
present time unproductive, either of farm crops or forest products. 

AREA OF WASTE LANDS IX EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA. 

In the eastern counties, with sandy or sandy-loam soils, and lying 
within the coastal plain region, the area of the waste land in forty- 
two counties amounts to over one million acres, or to one-tenth of 
the total area of those counties. Except the pine barreu lands 
which have already been discussed, any of these lands would be 
quickly and thickly seeded by the valuable loblolly (short-leaf i pine, 
and would soon be covered with a heavy young growth of these pines 
if the fires were kept off. Where the loblolly pine has been lum- 
bered small post and red oaks usually come up. This should be 
discouraged, as the pine growth is the more valuable of the two. 
The cause of the oaks appearing is that the young oaks, being able 
to bear a light shade, are usually found growing under the pines, 

and if, as usually happens, a leaf-lire passes through the w Is after 

the merchantable pine has been cut, tin' young pines which come 
up with the oaks are killed, so that the oaks alone remain. In 
this section considerably over half of the area is yet woodland, 
though a great part of il has been lumbered. 

AREA OF WASTE LANDS IN THE MIDDLE AMI WESTERN COUNTIES. 

In the midland counties, which extend westward as far as the 
foot of the Blue Ridge and eastward to the sandy soils of the low 
district, the area of the waste lands amounted, according to the 



YOUNG GROWTH ON WASTE LANDS. 35 

United States Census of L880, to over 1,500,000 acres, or between 
one-fifth and one-sixth of the total area. Only a little over one- 
halt' of tlic area of this district is now in woodland. The waste 
land consists very largely of old fields, many of which have upon 
them so heavy a sod of broom-grass that it is impossible for a young 
seedling togajn a foot-hold. Some of these grass lands in the early 
spring, when the young grass is coming up, after the old has 
been burnl off, give a scanty pasturage tor a few cattle. A large 
part of the area is typical red clay old Held-, washed and gullied, 
with a poor sod or none, and brambles, persimmon trees and sassa- 
fras scattered along the fence rows. 

In the mountain counties, except in a few localities, around 
.some of the larger towns ami in lone- settled communities there is 
very little waste 1 land. In some places, however, there are steep 
hill-sides which it has been found unprofitable to cultivate, and on 
which no turf has formed. These consequently have badly washed 
and gullied. Turf forms on the clayey soils from the slaty rocks 
less readily than on soils, in similar situations, from the gneissic 
rocks and schists, and there is. therefore, more washing and gully- 
ing of the land on the first mentioned soils. There was in 1880 
only one-twentieth of the land in these mountain counties lying 
out as waste land, neither in fields, pasture nor woodland. 

YOUNG GROWTH ON WASTE LANDS. 

With the farms scattered as they are through the forests, and sur- 
rounded on all sides by numerous kinds of trees it would he almost 
impossible for a year to pass without the seed from some forest tree 
being scattered on the numerous old fields and other tracks of out- 
lying, waste or unproductive lands. 

Young trees m fact do appear, pines chiefly in the lower division 
of the State, oaks mixed with pines in the midland division ; pines, 
oaks, tulip-poplar, birches and maples in the mountains, according 
to the situation. What alone prevents the youug trees from grow- 
ing on the lands are the recurring fires. It makes little difference 
where situated the waste lands which are connected with farms 
are almost certain to he broom-grass fields. The burning of this 
grass, thick and three. to four feet high, as it grows, will kill out- 



36 FOREST FIRES. 

right the most vigorous young trees four or five feet high or higher. 
After the grass has been in possession a good many years it forms 
a sod or turf, if such it can be called, which effectually choke- oul 
the young seedling of all except the hardiest species. 

CHANGES IX THE FOREST BODY. 

While the chauges which our forests are undergoing are gradual 
they are certainly effective ; and the vicissitudes which we know 
have been occasioned elsewhere by such degenerative changes in 

the composition of the forest body are n i the less sure because 

slowly produced. These particular changes which arenowtaking 
place must he passed through, at least to a certain extent, that we 
may realize them and take due precaution against their continuance 
or repetition. 

Happily for us the waste of our forests and their alterations have 
been produced by ourselves in the attempt to satisfy our own needs. 
Our timber production up to the past decade has been almost 
entirely for domestic consumption. Primarily a clearing was made 
for agricultural needs, then the timber was used for building our own 
houses, fencing our own lauds and furnishing our growing demands 
as fuel. While it was used in such a way. and only the la i gesl 
specimens culled for special purposes here and there, it was felt 
that the forests were practically inexhaustible. 

[NCREASE IN THE LUMBER INDUSTRY. 

The past fifteen years, however, have marked grave results. 
Since 1880 the output of lumber in North Carolina has more than 
ii> MimI; and the value of the capital engaged in manufacturing 
has increased from Sl.7lo.uui) as reported by the census of 1880 
to over $6,000,000 at the present time. It can be said to mark 
the results of a decade, for far the greater part of the increase has 
taken place during the pasl five years. It began along and near 
the coast where abundant water-ways afforded cheapest transporta- 
tion facilities for both logs to the mills and the finished material 
to the consumer: and the timber most in demand has been the 
hitherto neglected. sap loblolly pine. Already this new industry 
has made deep inroads into the forests of that section. Not con- 



PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY OF NORTH CAROLINA FORESTS. : '>~ 

tent with the so long despised "old-field" pine the swam [is have been 
canalled to reach the cypress and white cedar ( juniper). This 
increased production here is to compensate for the continually 

increasing shortage in the yield of white pine in the north-eastern 
States. In Michigan alone this shortage last year was more than 
the entire annual production of pine lumber in North Carolina 
amounts to at the present time. 

Last year (1894) less than one L half of the seven or eight hun- 
dred million feet of lumber manufactured in this .state was used 
here: and each year, as the demand tor Southern lumber becomes 
stronger with the increased consumption and tin- exhaustion of the 
forests of the Northwest, a larger proportion of our manufactured 
product will he for shipment. 

The utilization, on a commercial scale, of the hardwoods of this 
State ha- scarcely yet begun, of the 800,000,000 feet of lumber 
manufactured in this State during 1894 not over 50,000,000 feel 
were of hardwoods, oaks. ash. walnut and cherry. In spite of the 
general existing industrial depression the year 1894 chronicled the 
investment of over $300,000 in the hardwood forests of western 
North Carolina by northern lumbermen, while there had been 
previously invested several times that amount. Cypress and yel- 
low pine lands alone, to the extent of 111,000 acres and $346,000 
valuation, were owned by .Michigan millmen in 1890. 

The next decade or two will witness the development of the 
hardwood industry until it reaches the present proportion of the 
pine industry; and far-sighted millmen, seeing what an important 
part the hardwoods of western North Carolina an.' to play in the 
lumber market, are attempting to secure them before their value 
becomes generally known and they increase in price. 

Without going further into the future development of the lum- 
ber industry in North Carolina, and the markets to lie supplied by 
it, the general facts relative to the extent of our own demands and 
uses, the yearly rati' of accretion of our forests, and their capability 
of yielding the products, must not be lost sight of. 

PRODUCTIVE CAPACITY OF NORTH CAROLINA FORESTS. 

There are in North Carolina al the present time about 12,000,000 
acres of land in productive forests. The average yield of this land 



38 FOREST FIRES. 

per annum is only about fifty to fifty-five cubic feet of wood, or 
about tbree-fourths of a cord to the acre. In the mountains, in 
places, the yield is twice this amount, and on some of the more fer- 
tile sandy loams of the north-eastern counties it is eighty to ninety 
cubic feet per annum: but the smaller annual increment from the 
greater part of the woodland largely reduces the average. 

This small yield is due to the woods being kept open, or non- 
productive, by the frequent burnings, and. in the hardwood forests, 
by the continual presence of cattle, which keep certain kinds of 
young growth eaten down : and of hogs, which never give the seed 
of other kinds even an opportunity of germinating. A great part of 
the land in the eastern section of the State is kept open by these 
agencies, so as to produce only scattering and short-bodied trees. 

Some of the second growth woodland in the middle district suf- 
fers severely from the same causes, but not so much as in the east- 
ern section, and in many parts of the mountains, especially those 
parts where cattle and sheep-raising are leading occupations, the 
woods are severely injured by both stock and tires. The harm that 
is being clone in the mountains is as yet scarcely noticeable, as in 
most sections the mature foresl still stands unbroken by the axe. 
But wherever there is a particular kind of tender growth it is 
noticeable that there is, even in the finest forests, no young growth 
ready to take the place of the mature trees on their removal. Every- 
where destruction is pressing, and nowhere do the natural forces of 
growth prevail unchecked. 

The average yield per year in this State should he not less than 
sixty-five to seventy cubic feel of timber to the acre, and the lust 
quality of timber at that. With climate as equable as this, and a 
rain-fall abundant and evenly distributed throughout the year, 
there are encountered none of the natural drawbacks to forest 
growth which sylviculturists must so often contend with. The 
-oils, too, are good, and well adapted to tree-growing; there is 1ml 
little land rocky, or excessively dry, most of it, in fact, being deep 
and well drained. 

If the three million and more acres of idle and waste lands he 
considered in this connection as forest lands, and much of it really 
i- such, the average annual increment is reduced much lower than 



CONSUMPTION <>!•' WOOD IN NORTH CAROLINA. 39 

is given above. Taking the annual increment on the basis of fifty 
to sixty cubic feet to the acre, the total yearly yield of our forests 
will only amount to about 792,000,000 cubic feet, or 9,000,000 
(Minis of wood, while there was taken from the forests in various 
ways during the year 1894 not less than 975,000,000 cubic feet, or 
10,600,000 cords of wood. 

There is, then, a great deal more wood being yearly taken from 
the forests in North Carolina than the yearly growth replaces. 

CONSUMPTION OF WOOD IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

By far the larger part of the wood used in this State is for domes- 
tic fuel. In the consumption of wood for fuel North Carolina 
ranked, according to the census of 1 880, as the fifth Stale : 7,500,000 
cords being used for that purpose alone in 1879 by the people of 
this State. This is equal to five and one-half cords per head for 
every person in the State. The value of the wood used for fuel 
thai year was $9,500,000. The consumption has probably greatly 
increased since then, as the population has increased over 300,000 ; 
it certainly has not decreased, and is not likely to do so. as wood is 
not only the find for the entire rural population, but is the chief 
fuel used in all the towns, audi in manufactures of all kinds and 
by many of the railroads now in operation. The general quality 
of the wood thus utilized is on the whole low, but in the south- 
eastern counties some of the finest pine is being used in this way 
and the same may he said for young hickory in the midland counties. 

Material for construction make-; the next largest inroads into the 
forest. There were at least 200,000,000 cubic feet of wood thus used 
lasi yearj including lumber, shingles, hewn timber, railroad ties, 
telegraph poles, etc, and taking into consideration the tops that 
are left unused in the woods; while there was half as much more 
used for rail-fencing, fuel for manufacturing and destroyed by tire. 
Even this does not represent the entire amount of wood that this 
Stall furnished, for many million feet of round timber, mostly 
tulip-poplar, white pine, ash and hemlock-spruce, were sent to mills 
in east Tennessee by way of the rivers flowing westward out of this 
State; while 250,000,000 to 300,000,000 feet, hoard measure, of pine 
and white cedar logs were exported from the north-eastern counties 



40 FOREST FIRES. 

to mills in the adjacent parts of Virginia and were there manu- 
factured. Moreover, there were exported from this State over 
400,000,000 feet, hoard measure, of manufactured lumber, besides 
square timber, railroad ties, posts, etc., in smaller quantities. 

VALUE OF III K ANNUAL WOOD PRODUCTION IX NORTH I AROLINA. 

While the single item of fuel is decidedly the must important of 
any forest product, both in value and quantity, it represents less than 
one-half of the entire aggregate, including both crude timber and 
the manufactured product in North Carolina. The value of the 
crude timber produced in the State during the pasl year was about 
as follows: 

Value of fuel, domestic and for manufacturing $10,000,000 

Value of saw-logs at mills 3,500,1 

Value of round timber, exported 1,000,000 

Value of railroad ties and hewn timber of all kinds, 500,000 
Value of all split fencing, posts, etc 500,000 

Total value of all crude products $15,500,000 

If the value of the manufactured products, including by-pro- 
ducts like naval stores, tan harks, various oils ami extractives, 
be included, the total value id' the forest products of this State will 
certainly not be less than $22,000,000 and probably will reach as 
high as $25,000, I. 

The largest items under tin- head of manufactured foresl prod- 
ucts are : 

Manufactured lumber of all kinds $7,300,000 

Special industries, veneers and woodenware 300;000 

Cooperage 125,000 

Paper mill products i from pulp), estimated 100,000 

Resinous products i naval stores, etc.) 1,750,000 

Tan barks and extracts 45,000 

Wagon, buggy and car factories 600,000 

Furniture and repair shops 200,000 

Oil of wintergreen 30,000 

Packing boxes, undertaking caskets and agricultural 

implement manufactories 85,000 

Total $10,535,000 



THE PERIOD REQUIRED FOR FOREST ROTATION. 41 

If the items which are counted twice be taken from this amount 
and the value of the crude timber which is not manufactured be 
added, it will give nearly $23,000,000 as the value of the forest 
products of North Carolina, and this does not include the greal 
item of building and construction, and several minor items. 

This makes the forest crop decidedly one of the" most valuable 
in the State. It is nearly equal in value to the corn crop, and 

exceeds the < ibined value of all other grains. It greatly exceeds 

in value the united products of all the lloricultural and horticul- 
tural interests, 

rill-: PERIOD REQUIRED FOE FOREST ROTATION*. 

At first glance it seems paradoxical to state that the yearly pro- 
duction or accretion of our forests is less than 9,000,000 cords, 
while these same forests are now furnishing over 1 1,000,000 cords 
of wood per year. As a matter of fact, the growth which is now- 
being cut up in a decade or two represents the accumulation by 
the united energies of nature of several hundred years. The only 
way to ascertain the length of time it requires a foresl to reproduce 
itself is to determine the period required for the individual trees 
which compose ii (m reach their maximum age and size. 

The loblolly pine (short-leaf or old-field pine of the eastern 
counties) is under favorable conditions one of the most rapid grow- 
ing trees. Even it requires fifty to sixty years for the old-field 
growth, where the soil has been cultivated and enriched, to become 
large enough for saw-logs with a diameter of about two feet; while 
the ordinary swamp or rosemary pine growth, which furnishes so 
much of the timber, represents a growth of oxer a century. The 
cypress, which are exceedingly slow growing trees, required two 
or three times as long to reach their present proportions. Lone- 
leaf pines sixteen and twenty inches in diameter are between 
one hundred and twenty-five, and two hundred and fifty years 
old. The mixed pine and hardwood forests of tin midland coun- 
ties represent in their virgin condition from one hundred to one 
hundred and fifty years' growth; while it will require from two 
hundred to three hundred years to replace the forests of the moun- 
tains when they are destroyed. 



42 . KOREST PIKES. 

Taking the figures of the census 11 of 1880 as a basis, and these 
figures are doubtless sufficiently correct, about that year the rela- 
tion between our wooded area, the rate of accretion, and the rate 
of consumption from, or rather the rate of depletion of our forests, 
was such that consumption just about equalled the total accretion 
of that year. "Each year after the occurrence of this state of 
equilibrium there lias been a more decided change in the relation 
of total accretion to consumption; for not only has the forest area 
constantly lessening by the encroachment of arable lands, 
which decreased the productive possibilities, but there has been a 
constantly accelerating increase in demand as population increased 
and wants multiplied. We have now reached a situation where 
depletion largely exceeds accretion. 

It is evident that it is from no lack of woodland, for over one- 
half of the total area of the State is -till in trees. Some change. 
ire, must be made if the forests are to continue to supply our 
at present extravagant needs. 

FOREST AREA OF NORTH CAROLINA AND ELSEWHERE. 

While it has very little hearing on the present subject it may 
not be inappropriate to give the proportion of the area under forest 
in some of the principal countries of the world. European Russia 
has 4t; per edit, of its area in woodland, which is about the same 
proportion which is in this State. Austria has about •'!'-' per cent. 
of its area in forests. There is 26 percent, of the German Empire 
in forests, and these are so well managed that they supply the needs 
irly the entire German people. Systematic forest manage- 
ment and protection of woodland is of long standing in Germany, 
and the knowledge ami experience thus gained has been dissemi 
nated throughout all Europe, and is now being utilized in conserv- 
ing and increasing the efficiency of the forests, not only of the most 
advanced European countries, hut also of India. South Africa and 
Australia. 

In France the system of Germany has been adopted, but with such 
alterations as best suited local conditions; and by its application 



l In -. figures will do for comparison, but for actual calculation the rate of accretion should 
lerably smaller, and at the same time the rate of depletion larger, which would make 
i iii-. i>! mivI of neutrality antedate the yeai given at least a decade, orabout 1870. 



PERMANENCY OF FORESTS. • !■"> 

the people are largely enabled to supply their own wood with only 
16 per cent, of the total area in forest. In spite of the natural econ- 
omy of the people of France, and the fact, that other materials than 
wood are extensively used as fuel, considerable amounts of build- 
ing timber are yearly imported. The forest area, however, is now 
being extended by the planting of new forests. The amount to 
which coal is used for fuel, and brick or stone for building mate- 
rials, affects more than any other factors the amount of wood re- 
quired per capita. < >mitting the area west of the Blue Ridge, which 
is at present heavily timbered, but forms only a small part — less 
than one-seventh — of the aggregate area of the state, the wooded 
portion of the remaining part is less than one-half of the total area. 

Practically all the fuel used in North Carolina is w 1, while in 

the entire eastern section of the State wood is the only building 
material available. 

PERMANENCY OF FORESTS. 

That one cannot hope to see a young growth reach maturity and 
become merchantable sized saw-logs in a few months or a few 
years should not deter him from properly protecting and en- 
couraging woodland growth. In forests which have been partly 
culled, as most of those of this State have been, and where 
there are many trees mature or Hearing maturity, a thicket of 
young growth beneath the higher trees serves an important 
function in shading the ground, aiding in the retention of moist- 
ure and thus stimulating the older trees into renewed activity, 
and especially is thi.~ true of oak woods. That tree-growth is most 
rapid when the woods are kept open is a saying seemingly based 
on fact, but erroneous in itself. The chief requisite in timber is 
length of boh' and freedom from knots. This is secured only by 
means of a. thick growth during what is called the height-growth 
period of the tree's life. It is under these conditions that the 
greatest yield to the acre takes place. Diameter-growth, which is 
frequently thought to represent total growth, is attained by full 
Held conditions; but this thickening of the stem is easily secured 
after height is gotten, especially in the hardwood forests where cull- 
ing is practiced, by the removal of either the highest trees or those 



44 FOREST FIRES. 

slightly overtopped, as the individuality of the species may neces- 
sitate or economy demand. 

Forest growth, both old and young, then, should be regarded as 
an integral part of the productive wealth of the country. It. how- 
ever, can only yield returns commensurate with its value when the 
young growth is carefully protected from fire and the destructive 
attacks of cattle. 

A forest is not a mine of wealth, nor does it represent a mine in 
any sense of the word. The wealth of a mine is incapable of in- 
crease or replenishment when once exhausted. More fittingly, a 
forest is considered a soil crop, as liable to external injury as anj r 
other soil crop, the merchantable trees representing the mature 
harvest, which should be removed in such a way as to not seriously 
interfere with the younger growth, which in time will also reach 
maturity if properly protected. 

It must be considered asa permanent factor in wealth production 
and care taken to husband its resources and to favor in every prac- 
tical way the growth of those kinds of trees which are now fully 
recognized as commercially important. Although the forests of 
other parts of this State have not heretofore been of industrial im- 
portance, the forests of the eastern section have during the past 
thirty years been playing such an important part in its commercial 
and industrial relations that this fact need not be here dwelt upon. 
It is sufficient to say that the value of the forest products manufac- 
tured in that section last year ( 189 1 ). from the pines alone, amounted 
to over $7,000,000, and the very hasis of the prosperity of most of 
the larger towns in that region is the trade in or manufactures of 
forest products. 

The hardwood forests of the middle and western districts are only 
now beginning to have a general commercial value for their prod- 
ucts. This once assured, and the forests then will lie commer 
cially as important as in the coast region, and their depletion will 
be brought about as speedily. 

LOSSES FROM FOREST FIRES DURING 1894. 

With a view of determining approximately the losses caused by 
forest fires in the State during 1894 the Geological Survey recently 



SUMMARY OF REPORTS FROM COUNTIES. 15 

sent a number of circular-letters to persons living in the several 
counties, and the statements published below have been abstracted 
from the replies received. Many of the replies were so general or 
vague in their statements that they furnished no accurate data, 

even for local districts, merely stating that the "damage was large" 
or "forest fires common." In the middle district, where herds "i 
improved cattle arc coming to he kept and arc more properly cared 
for, there are in many of the counties stock or no-fence laws, which 
restrain cattle from running at large through the woodland. This 
has caused the practice of burning the woods to be largely discon- 
tinued, and very lew fires were reported at all from the midland 
counties. The most numerous and severe lire- were in the south- 
eastern counties, where the chief cause for«burning was to secure 
pasturage for a few cattle. Other fires in this section were thought 
to have originated in efforts to protect turpentine orchards and to 
protect homes or crops from destruction by accidental fires. Only 
a few tires were reported as having been caused by the carelessness 
of railroad hands, or by sparks from locomotives. 

SUMMARY OF REPORTS FROM COUNTIES 

Abstracts have been made of the reports received from each 
county, preserving in each case, where it was possible to do so, the 
words of tie- correspondents. The reports are based on answers 
received from about 250 lettors and circulars sent to persons in 
eighty of the ninety-six counties. The sixteen omitted counties 
lay in the middle section of tin- State. 

Alexander county. — Only a U^w forest tires, and these of the 
kind that may he called leaf-fires, were reported from this county 
as having occurred during 1894. 

Anson county was almost exempt from forest tires during L894 
Besides numerous leaf-fires, a severe fire burnt or seriously damaged 
the timber on probably 200 acres of Ion-deaf pine land in the 
southern part of the county, occasioning only a nominal damage. 
The destruction of undergrowth among pines by lire is not consid- 
ered a loss by the people, and in some places the burning of wood- 
land is regarded by them as being rather beneficial than otherwise. 

Bertie county'. — Numerous reports from this county state that 
while there were many small tires, mostly leaf-fires, the damagi 



46 FOREST FIRES. 

done to timber and fencing was not great; 3,000 to 6,000 acres 
were burned over, with a loss of $1,000 to $2,000. The origin of 
many of the fires was attributed to railroads. A great deal of young 
timber was destroyed. 

Bladen county suffered from a number of large fires during the 
spring months, burning over hundreds of acres with an almost total 
loss of timber. One report places the number of acres burned at 
5,000, with-a loss of $2,000; the largesl lire being at the lead of 
Colly creek, and burning 2. nun acres, with a loss of about $600 
Firing the woods was intentional, and was done to get tender grass 
and to protect against unexpected fires in dry seasons. 

Brunswick county. — The fires in this county were for the most 
part grass-fires, which were set in the spring for pasturage A large 
portion of the county was burned over; some turpentine timber 
was destroyed, though its loss did not amount to much. Firing 
the grass is commonly practiced. It has kept most of the pines 
killed down and already killed out a large part of the young crop 
of long-leaf pines, which resulted from the mast of 1892. 

Buncombe county. — Burning the woods has nearly ceased in this 
county, but is still to some extent practiced in the mountain dis- 
tricts, where cattle are grazed in the weeds. 

Burke county. — There were 7,000 to 8,000 acres of timbered 
lands reported as burnt over in the South mountains alone, killing 
a large amount of pine timber and burning much fencing. Fires 
also occurred along the Blue Ridge and along the line of the West- 
ern North Carolina railroad, but did no great damage. All forest 
fires after the first of March kill much of the young forest growth. 
Fires were said to have originated from burning brush, o'possum 
hunters, and more frequently from incendiarism; those along the 
railroad from locomotives, and some were set by chestnut gatherers. 
One correspondent thinks that burning the dead herbage and under- 
growth does good by killing insects; but sometimes it also kills 
yellow pines and growing timber. The benefit that may be done 
in the way of killing insects is doubtless insignificant as compared 
with the damage resulting from these forest tires in the way of kill- 
ing out the young tree growth. 



SUMMARY OF REPORTS FROM COUNTIES 47 

Caldwell county. — One correspondent states that he knew oi 
nine large fires; one in March in Lenoir township, one in March in 
Globe township, one in March in Patterson township, one in April 
in Yadkin Valley township, one in November in Patterson town- 
ship, and another there in December; one in December in Yadkin 
Valley township, one in Lower Creek township and one in Kings 
Creek township. There were from 10,000 to 15,000 acres burned 
over, with a loss of about $5,000. 

Another correspondent mentions seven fires in his section of Cald- 
well county during the year 1894. One of these was in June in 
( Uobe township, and in August and again in November in the same 
township. In November, in the central pari of the county, near 
Lenoir, two fires occurred, one in Yadkin Valley township and 
another in Yadkin Valley and Patterson townships in December. 
There were about 40,000 acres burned over, with a damage to tim- 
ber of about $6,000. Young poplars ami chestnuts suffer most 
from these tires, hut white pines are very much injured, oaks are 
scarred ami often injured for lumber, as is also the case with chest- 
nuts and hickories. These tires, this correspondent thinks, will 
cause the gradual disappearance of the chestnut. The tree- are 
scorched by the tires and decay sets in on the burnt side. Fires 
are set in the woods to make the grass crow tor cattle, and to burn 
the leaves so hogs can get mast. Wherever the stock-law has been 
introduced the number of fires has I. ecu much lessened. 

Catawba county". — The damage to timber from forest tires in 
Catawba county, as in many of the other counties in the middle 

sectii f the State, was slight so far as could be learned. The 

timber in the county is largely of hardwoods, usually with hard- 
wood undergrowth in the forests. 

The damage to timber in Mecklenburg, Davidson'Handolfh, 
Guilford and Person counties was caused by occasional leaf-lire-, 
and was on the whole not great. 

Camden county. — A forest fire on the "lake" side burned 
through to the swamp, near the Currituck county line. ( >ver 2,000 
acres were burned over, with a damage of $2,000 to timber and con- 
siderable damage to other property. One report stall's that a large 
fire usually occurs in this locality everv year. There were several 



48 FOREST FIRES. 

brush and leaf-fires in other parts of the county, which occasioned 
no more serious loss than the destruction of the young growth. 

Columbus county. — Correspondents stated that burnings had 
occurred in numerous localities in this county, but they were una- 
ble to give the extenl of the losses. One fire, burning over about 
500 acres, occurred near Fair Bluff, and occasioned a loss of $125. 
It i- -aid to have been due to the carelessness of railroad employees. 
Other and larger fires occurred in the north-western and western 
parts of the county, near Hub and Lennon's cross roads. The large 
turpentine forests of this county have been gradually destroyed by 
tires, which have also burnt the young growth down as fast as il has 
appeared. 

Cumberland county. — A correspondent living in the eastern 
section of the county writes: " It is impossible even to approximate 
the number of forest fires occurring in this county: They take 
place mostly in the late fall, when their illumination is almost 
nightly seen and frequently at every point of the compass at the 
same time. The damage caused by them during the past year was 
very great, especially to old pines, and the area burned over large. 
The greater part of the young growth in the forest has been destroyed 
except tlie black-jacks, which in their green state are nearly fire- 
proof, and it is fortunate for the people of the sand-hills that it is 
so. Burning the woods is far too common, but is clandestinely 
dole, as public sentiment decries it. It is done to stimulate early 
growth to]- worthless cattle." 

Edgecombe county. — A correspondent writes that so far as he 
was able to judge, after consultation with others, more than two- 
thirds of the entire forest area of this county was burned over in 
February, March and April. Fires in the woods at other seasons 
occasion but little damage, die damage to the standing timber 
each year is from 5 to in per cent, of its value on the area burned 
over. When a forest is not burnt over in a number of years the 
damage then from tire is much greater. Losses from burning of 
fences amounted in 1894 to about $500. Fires are usually acci- 
dental from burning old fields and brush and hunting witli torch. 
They have burned down most of the boxed pines and destroyed the 
young growth of timber. 



SUMMARY OF REPORTS FROM COUNTIES. 19 

On the basis above given 60,000 to 80,000 acres must have been 
burnt over, with a loss of $10,000 to $20,000. 

Graham county. — Burning the woods lias been practiced in this 
and in Cherokee county ever since they were settled, and before 
that time the Indians practiced it. The trees in many places, 
especially the chestnuts, have been scorched on one side and then 
hollowed out from the effects of the tires. Much other timber and 
young growth is injured. Many of the mountains in Graham and 
Swain counties were burned over by the Indians during the past 
year. It is safe to say that one-fourth of the mountain lands of 
these three counties, Graham, Swain and Cherokee, was burnt over 
during the past year. 

Halifax county. — A destructive fire occurred in March just 
west of Enfield, which burned over some 4,000 or 5,000 acres of 
timbered land. The damage, the correspondent thinks, would 
be at least si .50 per acre, all undergrowth less than three inches in 
diameter being killed. Fires in the woods in this county are usu- 
ally traceable to camp fires, hunters and tramps. No reports were 
received from other sections of this county. 

Harnett county'. — Leaf tires, or grass tires, set to better the pas- 
turage, burned over a large part of the wooded area of the county 
lying south of Dpper Little river. This part of the county has 
been burned over so many previous times that nearly all the tim- 
ber on it has been destroyed. There were a lew unimportanl fires 
in the northern part of the county. 

Henderson county'. — One report states that a large part of the 
forest lands, at least one-third, was burned over during the winter 
of 1893— '94, between November ami May. with a heavy loss of 
timber. The same report states that at least two-thirds of the 
standing timber ha- been damaged by fires which occur regularly 
eacdi season, and which are purposely started to better the pas- 
turage. Some fires, however, are accidental. 

Jackson county. — The outside mountain lands, or wild lands, 
are yearly burned over to supply grazing. At least a third of the 
area of these lands was estimated to have been burned during the 
past year. Great damage is done to the poplar and chestnut tim- 
ber; indeed it is difficult to find in these wild lands a tree of these 
kinds that is not defective at the base from this cause. 



50 FOREST FIRES. 

Johnston county, like the other counties in which the long-leaf 

pine predominates, yearly has a large part of its area burned over 
for the pasturage. Besides all the young pines being destroyed the 
damage to timber last year was estimated to amount to live per 
cent, of the value of the timber on the area burned over, and this 
was very little in excess of the usual annual loss. 

Joxes county. — Only a few Ideal fires were reported from this 
county. 

Macojs COUNTY, like so many of the other mountain counties, 
yearly has a large part of the "wild lands" burned over. And 
although the fires are chiefly leaf-fires they have caused great 
damage to the timber. Between 10,000 and 20,000 acre's were 
estimated to have been burned over during the past year. The 
loss from the fencing destroyed was placed at more than $2,000. 

Madison county. — Although there were several fires at various 
places in the county there was only a single destructive one reported, 
which burned over about fifty acres. Burning the woods is prac- 
ticed in many sections of the county to keep the woods open and 
better the grazing.- 

Mitchell county. — Thousands of acres, mostly on southern 
slopes, were reported as burned over during the past year in this 
county. One correspondent says that although the damage to 
standing timber from a single fire appears to be small the continual 
burning, year after year, results in serious damage, killing much 
of the timber ami seriously injuring the rest, so thai its value has 
been lessened one-half by the mere repetition of the leaf-fires. < >n 
many south mountain slopes many of the larger trees have been 
destroyed and only a brushy growth occupies their place. The 
practice of burning the woods tor improving pasturage is a com- 
mon one in parts of this county. 

Many of the statements made about the practice of firing and 
i he resultant damage to the woodland of .Mitchell county will apply 
as well to parts of the adjoining counties of Yancey and Watauga. 

Montgomery county. — Besides the usual spring fires set for 
bettering pasturage a few destructive fires were reported to have 
occurred in the wake of the lumbermen in the eastern and southern 
parts of the county. 



SUMMARY OF REPORTS FROM COUNTIES. 5] 

Moore county. — The forests of this county have been devastated 
in the past few years by several large and destructive fires. One 
in 1892 consumed a large amount of timber in the southern pari 
of the county and wiped the village of West End out of existence. 
Another in 1893 destroyed long-leaf pine timber to the value of 
$50,000. Fortunately, however, there were no destructive fires 
during the past year, although a Large portion of the county was 
burned over for pasturage, or to protect property against an unex- 
pected tire in a dry season. 

New Hanover county. — There were between 3,000 and 4. dot) 
acres in this county, covered with young pine trees, burned over. 
Many of the young trees wen- killed; otherwise the damage was 
not great. Fires have greatly decreased in this county since the 
adoption of the stock law. 

Northampton county. — ( )nly a few local tires were reported from 
this county. 

Onslow county was visited by several destructive forest, tires. 
One eoi respondent mentions five large tires which occurred on the 

west side of New river in the turpentine w Is. These burned 

over 1,000 acres, with a loss of over $6,000, mostly of pine timber 
and young growth. Another person writing from the southern 
part of the county says that one tire in the neighborhood of Brown 
sound burned over about 8,000 acres, with a loss of $5,000. This 
fire originated from lightning. Another tire was mentioned near 
the Duplin county line which burned 300 acres. Burning is com- 
monly practiced in this county for improving pasturage. 

Perquimans county. — Six fires occurred in April and May in 
Parkville and New Hope townships, burning over a large area. 
While the damage to standing timber was not large a great injury 
was inflicted on the underwood, which was all killed. These fires 
were purposely started, and are thought to improve the forests and 
drive out foxes and other wild animals. The practice of burning 
is here frequent. 

Richmond county. — There were 6,000 to 7,000 acres of timbered 
land burned over in this county, the burned areas lying for the 
most part in the southern and eastern portions of the county. The 
most extensive one was in Marks Creek township. This burned 



52 FOREST KIRKS. 

over L,000 acres of recently lumbered pine lands, killing all the 
young pines and a -real deal of scrub oak timber. The wire-grass 
in the pine-barrens is fired every spring to better the grazing and 
tn kill out the young growth. 

Robeson < ounty seems to have suffered less than usual from fires 
during 1894. There were a great many small grass-fires which 
destroyed the undergrowth, in that portion of the county where 
the stock law is in operation there were very few fires. 

Sampson county. — A correspondent from this county, which lies 
in the lone-leaf pine region, estimated that there were 100,000 acres 
of timbered land burned over, with a hiss of $50,000. The loss was 
mostly in young growth, to a less extent in timber. Burning is 
practiced Cor pasturage : hut some fires are accidental. Most of the 
young pine growth in the forests, especially in the southern part 
of tin county, is kept killed down. Another correspondent in the 
south-western part of the county states that there were no serious 
forest fires in his section during the past year, though there wen 
many smaller ones. 

Wake county. — There is a considerable part of this county 
burned over every fall and spring, damaging a great deal of young 
growth. The same applies also to the adjoining counties of Nash 
and Chatham. Most of these tires are purposely started or escape 
from brush-fires where new ground is being cleared. 

Wayne county. — A large part of the southern section of this 
county, where it is very sandy and grassy, was burned over in the 
spring of 1894 tor pasturage. Fires have killed all of the young 
long-leaf pines in this part of the county and only scrub oaks have 
taken their place. 

REMAINING COUNTIES. — No reports, or none that were satisfactory. 
were obtained from Tyrrell. Washington. Dare, Hyde. Duplin, and 
Carteret counties, lying in the eastern section of the State. These 
counties, however, have a large proportion of their areas under 
swamp. 

No reports were received from Wilkes, Stokes, Polk ami Ruther- 
ford counties ; hut it is safe to say that a la rge part of the woodland 
in them was burned over, as was the case with the other piedmont 
counties of Burke and Caldwell. 



AGGREGATE VALUE OF PROPERTY DESTROYED. 53 

No attempt was made to secure any specific information from 
the counties in the middle portion of the State, as these have hard- 

w Is for a Large pari of their timbers, are thickly settled and the 

woodland is not so much injured by tires as elsewhere in the State, 
nor is the practice of burning so frequently resorted to in order to 
stimulate a scanty pasturage. There is still room, however, for a 
large reform. 

AGGREGATE VALUE OF THE PROPERTY DESTROYED BY 
FOREST FIRES. 

The difficulty of getting any reliable figures concerning forest 

tires is well shown in the incomplete reports from the several coun- 
ties enumerated above. The nature of the subject explains the 
difficulty of obtaining full statistics. The large number of the 
fires — most of them being leaf-fires, which are of so frequent and 
general occurrence as to fix neither locality nor extent definitely 
in the memory of even those who saw them — and the inability of 
the most widely informed persons to estimate and report accurately 
beyond a. local district, render the accumulation of exhaustive evi- 
dence upon the extent and destruction of these tires well-nigh 
impossible. 

The damage as stated by the correspondents from the several 
reporting counties must have aggregated over $400,000, and there 
must have Keen between 800,000 and 1,200,000 acres burned over 
during the year. The damage attributed to Sampson county may 
lie in excess of the actual hisses sustained ; but that from the other 
counties is in all cases probably underestimated, usually a third or 
a half smaller than in reality. Moreover, it is difficult to fix any 
standard by which losses can he ascertained: for only mature trees 
of certain merchantable species are considered in making the esti- 
mates, while the destruction of kinds with no commercial valua- 
tion as yet, ami young' growth, is counted as nothing. The coun- 
ties reporting, too, embraced only about one-half of the area of the 
State, and the writer from his own observation of the damage 
wrought in previous years in these non-reporting counties would 
estimate the damage of them at over one-half of what it is in the 
other counties, or over $200,1100. The entire loss in 1894 caused 



54 FOREST FIRES. 

by forest fires in the State was certainly Dot less than $600,000; and 
from 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 acres of forest and waste lands were 
burned over. Only on a comparatively small part of this land, 
however, did the fires amount to more than leaf, or brush, or grass- 
fires; but, as has been shown already these result ultimately in 
the total destruction of the forest. 

THE RELATIVE PREVALENCE OF FIRES IN DIFFERENT REGIONS. 

The most numerous and severe fires in this State occur in the 
south-eastern counties in what is known as the long-leaf pine belt, 
or pine-barrens. High ami thick grasses cover the ground and 
when dry in winter and spring form a fuel which carries fire before 
a wind at an alarmingly rapid rate. New Hanover county and parts 
of Robeson and Pender, where the stock laws are in force, have 
comparatively few forest fires. In the north-eastern counties there 
are neither so many fires nor is the damage resulting so great as it 
is farther south. Almost one-fourth of the definitely reported fires 
occurred in the soul h-eastern counties. So difficult is it to extinguish 
these wire-grass fires when once well under way that they have been 
known to burn from Hamlet to Fayctteville, a distance of forty 
miles. 

Next iii order, as far as number and extent of area burned, come 
the south-western mountain counties. The soil here is in many 
places in a condition in which it holds but little water, so the dry 
leaves burn well, and, wherever there are any Indians, the woods 
are regularly burned; hut the Indians are by no means the only 
offenders. The mountainous parts ,,f the piedmont counties sutler 
a great deal also, the ridges being steep, and much pine mixed 
with the hardwoods, so that a lire once started in a dry season 
hums briskly. The woods of the other counties west of the Blue 
Ridge are frequently burned when the season is dry enough; but 
the conditions in these are not as conducive to fires as in the south- 
western counties. The fires in the piedmont and mountain coun- 
ties are leaf or brush-fires, randy damaging directly anything except 
the bases of the trees. 

The midland counties enjoy a comparative exemption, no very 
large fires being reported from this section. The people are 



THE ORIGINS OF FOREST FIRES. •>•> 

beginning to realize their damage and prevent them and make 
every effort towards extinguishing them when once started. They 
rardy pass beyond brush or leaf-fires. 

The tires in the eastern part of the State not infrequently pass 
from the grass to the pine trees which have been boxed and either 
ruin the face of the turpentine box or burn the boxes out so that 
the first storm will blow the trees down. After the face of a box 
has been burned only a low grade of rosin can be obtained from 
il, since the cinder darkens the resin. 

THE ORIGINS OF FOREST KIRKS. 

By tar the greater number of the tires, at least two-thirds of 
them, seem to he of intentional origin. And at least two-thirds of 
those purposely set are to secure or improve the pasturage. In 
the eastern part of the State these spring tires burn off the tough 

and thick old growth of wife-grass and br< l-straw and the cattle 

can very early in the spring for several weeks yet a fairly good 
pasturage. The grass, however, soon becomes too hard to he eaten. 
In the mountains fires are sel to gel rid of the leaves, so that the 
young grass can be easily reached in the spring; to burn off the 
stiff weeds, etc., and, what is much more important to the grazer, 
keep the young tree growth killed down. Keeping the young tree 
growth killed down exercises a twofold influence; it keeps the 
woods open so that grasses and herbage can grow, for these will 
not grow where it is too shady ; and it keeps all pines and other 
conifers killed down, as these do not so readily sprout from the stump; 
while keeping them killed keeps the hardwoods, which cattle eat, of 
low growth, or always sprouting from the roots, so that they afford 
young and tender shoots within easy reach of cattle. It must be 
borne in mind, however, that these fires also, destroy much of the 
grass and other annual and perennial herbs and shrubs, by destroy- 
ing both the seeds and the plants themselves, in the forests and 
about the margins; and that in this way in the long run the pas- 
turage in the forests is injured rather than improved by these 
repeated burnings. 

Burning to protect houses, etc., is said to he a frequent cause 
for firing in the south-eastern counties. These are fires set on 



56 FOREST FIRES. 

still days to get rid of the inflammable material, so that there will 
be no danger to farms and crops and houses from a chance fire in 
windy weather. A few fires were reported as set to enable hogs 
to find mast; and some by chestnut hunters; some from malice. 
In the turpentine orchards they are intentionally set to keep the 
growth down and get rid of the inflamable grass before the boxes 
are cut. or the sap begins to rise in the trees. Some were said to 
he set t<> gel rid of insects, pine borers, etc., which is certainly 
using a very dangerous remedy for an insignificant evil. 

Still other fires were reported as being started to drive game 
from cover. Most of the fires in the eastern and many in the 
western part of the State are started by indigent persons who are 
amenable to no law, who regard all property as open to destruction 
and forests as communal property; persons whose parents were 
hunters and who themselves are scarcely yet seriously affected by 
the civilization which defines property and allows to the individual 
its possession. The few fires that were reported as being of acci- 
dental origin were from hunters at night, campers, locomotives. 
lightning, and many from burning brush or logs in clearing land. 

THE FOREST FIRE LAWS, 

The general law in North Carolina relative to forest fires lias 
remained on the statute hooks practically unchanged, and largely 
a dead letter, since it was enacted in 1777; and during this nearly 
a century and a quarter that has passed since that time, tire has 
destroyed more timber in the State than the lumberman has cut. 
The law is as follows : 

" No person shall set tire to any woods, except it be his own prop- 
erty; nor in that case, without first giving notice in writing to all 
persons owning lands adjoining to the woodlands intended to be 

fired, at least two days before the time of tiring such w Is, and 

also taking effectual care to extinguish such fire before it shall 
reach any vacant or patented lands near to or adjoining the lands 
so fired."* 

"Every person wilfully offending against the preceding section 
shall, for every such offense, forfeit and pay to any person who will 

*Code, 1883, c. 7, s. 52. 



THE F0RES1 Ml; I LWS. • )< 

sue for the same fifty dollars, and be liable to any one injured in 
an ad imi, and shall moreover be guilty of a misdemeanor."* 

Besides these laws relating to firing the woods then- is the follow- 
ing one in regard to wagons and ramps: 

"If any wagoner or other person camping in the open air shall 
leave his camp without totally extinguishing his camp-fire he shall 
be liable to a penalty of ten dollars, to be recovered by any person 
suing for the same, and shall furthermore be liable for the full 
amount of damages that any individual may sustain by reason of 
any lire getting out from said camp, to he recovered by action in 
the Superior Court for the county in which said camp may be situ- 
ated, or in which said damage may he done: Provided, that this 
section shall apply only to the counties of Cumberland, Harnett. 
Bladen, Moore, Hertford and Chowan"f. 

The last section was passed in 1 86 l-'65, is in operation only in six 
counties, and covers merely the ease of accidental tires from camp- 
ers. A statute similar in its provisions hut imposing a heavier fine 
was passed in 1885. Its application extends only to thirteen coun- 
ties, embracing most of those in the south-eastern part of the State. 
It is as follows : 

"If any wagoner or other person camping in the open air shall 
leave his camp without totally extinguishing the camp-fire he 
shall he guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction fined not ex- 
ceeding fifty dollars or imprisoned not exceeding thirty days, at 
the discretion of court, and also he liable to parties injured: Pro- 
vided, that this statute apply only to the counties of Onslow, Pen- 
der. Edgecombe, Robeson, Wayne, Columbus, Cumberland, New 
Hanover, Bertie, Cabarrus, Harnett, McDowell and Davie."J 

There is besides the above a special law applying only to Pam- 
lico county which was passed in L889. This forbids any person from 
firing his woodland or marsh-land between May 1st and December 
31st, unless it be separated by a swamp or stream from the lands 
of oi her persons.^ 



*Cj>de, 18S3, c. 7, s. 53. 
tCode, 1SS3, c. 7, s. 54. 
fLaws of North Carolina. 1885, c. [26, s. 
SLawsof North Carolina, 1SS9, c. 246, s. 



58 ' FOREST FIRES. 

There is no doubt thai section 52 of the Code of 1883, in regard 
to notice of intention to burn being sent to owners of adjoining 
woodland, is a dead letter. Over two-thirds of the woodland tires 
in this State are purposely set, and their annual number must reach 
.i! leasl 500 to 700. The writer is unable to learn of a single cast 
in which such notice was given by the parties who started the 
fires. Although a large number of the tires annually occurring 
are traced to night hunters and a tew to day hunters, there is no 
statute providing for fires originating either through carelessness 
or design of persons so engaged in hunting. 

VARIOUS VIEWS UPON THE EXISTING FIRE LAWS. 

A question was asked many persons concerning the efficiency of 
the existing forest-fire law; and for suggestions by which its effi- 
ciency could he improved or its provisions more effectually en- 
forced. As all shades of belief and criticism found expression 
some of the more prominent and pertinent answers are given below. 

( >ver one-half of the answers received indicated that their writers 
were ignorant of the existence of a law concerning forest fires or 
burning brush, etc. The chief idea expressed was that if a person's 
timber is seriously damaged by a lire started on his land by another 
person a suit can he brought for damages against the offender. 

Such action is brought against railroad companies when fires are 
i raceable to locomotives, and the assessed damage is usually paid in 
such cases. 

A prominent correspondent in one of the piedmont counties said : 
■■A law to prevent them (fires) would he difficult to enforce from the 
fad that it would l>e impossible to find out who does the firing." 

One in eastern North Carolina wrote: "The no-fence law would 
prove the mosl efficacious in regard to those of intentional origin. 
Penalties should he enforced on the responsible parties when re- 
sulting from carelessness." 

A writer in one of the south-western counties said: "1 do not 
think the present law strong enough. Fires can only he prevented 
by passing strict laws with heavy penalties, and the strict enforce- 
ment of the same by the courts, which has not been done hereto- 
fore in this part of the State. Most of our people would be glad to 



INFLUENCE OF LUMBERMEN IN CHECKING FIRES. ■>■> 

sec the law strictly enforced and a stop put to forest fires, as noth- 
ing is doing this part of the State more harm." 

Another states : " We have plenty of law, but it is difficult to en- 
force it. The people need to he educated on thesubject. Wherever 
the stock law has been introduced it has been found that the num- 
ber of fires has been much reduced." 

The writer of the following, like many others, appears ignorant 
of the existence of a lire law: "J fa fire gets out on another's land 
not only should the party offending have to pay the damages hut 
be subject to a suitable penalty for misdemeanor." 

A person in one of the south-eastern counties whose lands, he 
says, have been much damaged by fires thinks it would he a good 
idea, in neighborhoods where tires are common, to have a man to 
look after them and see that offenders are reported and punished. 

INFLUENCE OF LUMBERMEN IN CHECKING TIKES. 

The influence that earnest millmen can exert, if so minded, will 
probably have more effect in their respective localities than the 
enactment of any law, no matter how severe and exacting may he 
Us provisions. If these millmen, who form in reality one of the 
most interested classes, will take the matter in hand and make 
their employes understand that tile protection of the young growth 
from tires is the assurance of labor for them, and it is the only wax- 
that the lumber industry can he perpetuated in this State, there will 
he gained a strong position of vantage. These laborers and the 
opinions held by them reach a class which writing of no sort can 
reach or influence; audit is this class which, either ignoring or 
neglecting to consider both the moral ami pecuniary aspects of their 
acts, is responsible for far the greater number of the forest tires. If 
once the 15,000 men engaged in handling lumber and timber in 
this State are made to understand the advantage of protecting 
young forest growth and preventing tires, both by not setting them 
and by informing against those who do, public sentiment will come 
to their support, and we will begin to realize that the forests of (lie 
State may have a future as well as a present. 

Although it is the lumbermen whom the fires — especially in the 
eastern part of the State — are most injuring and who would he 
the most benefited by their suppression, many of them express 



60 FOREST FIRES. 

absolute indifference to any effort to mitigate the evil or to show 
the great loss occasioned by burning. They even appear to oppose 
any reform, and regard with decided disfavor any effort towards 
securing it. Their air many millmen, however, who have aided 
in securing valuable data, and who express their readiness to 
co-operate in any measure which assures any abatement as to the 
number ami extent of the fires. 

RELATION OF THE BURNER To THE FORESTS. 

The turpentine workers also regard it as right to burn the grass 
and undergrowth in turpentine orchards, and in spite of the fact 
that the tire is liable to extend to the trees continue thus to fire the 
grass. It is impossible, however, to secure the boxed trees and the 
highly inflammable scrape-covered faces to the boxes as long as 
the undergrowth is burned; ami it is equally as impossible to 
secure a regrowth of long-leaf pine as long as the burning grass 
consumes all seedlings ami seed. 

There are in the south-eastern counties clearly two classes who 
are interested in the burning: (1) the timber owner who sees his 
woodland yearly deteriorating in value at the hands of another, 
and who, it seems, can obtain no redress for his loss — cannot 
even secure a suppression of the agency of destruction ; ami (2) the 
person who for the immediate benefit he fancies is derived from 
the act innocently or willfully, directly or through gross neglect, 
burns off the lands and destroys the timber or other property 
belonging to another citizen. 

These two elements seem irreconcilable. As a matter of fact, 
however, their aims and dependencies are similar. It is apparent 
that the peis. .11 who dues the burning does not realize the relation 
between himself and the woodland. For in many cases, and as a 
general rule in the south-eastern counties of the State, a great part 
of his existence is dependent upon it. and that the more forest 
there is the greater will he his benefit, his cow or (he ease with 
which he can work his rented turpentine boxes notwithstanding. 

INFLUENCE OF THE NO-FENCE LAW IN CHECKING FIRKS. 

In a few places in eastern North Carolina the stock or no-fence 
law has been tried for a number of years; and. though the objeel 



THE MAINE LAW IX REGARD TO FOREST FIRES til 

iii securing it was solely for the improvemenl of cattle and to 
lessen the cost of fencing, it lias produced, in those localities where 
it has been tried, a decided change in the appearance of the young 
growth in the forest, and aided to lessen the number of fires by 
removing in a large measure the incentive to burning. To show 
the relative importance of protecting the forests to the pasturage 
gained by turning stock into the forest and tiring the forest on the 
supposition that this improves the pasturage, it will suffice to state 
that the total value of all the cows in Moore county would not pay 
for the timber destroyed in that county alone during the years 
L892 and 1893 by two fires. Harnett, Richmond and Bladen 
counties all show a similar state of affairs 

And not only would the forest tiro become less frequent if the 
stock or no-fence law he generally introduced, hut the provisions 
of the law quoted above in regard to the punishment of persons 
for firing should he rigidly enforced ; and if. as the law now stands, 
it cannot he made operative it should he judiciously amended and 
provision made for its proper enforcement. 

THE MAINE LAW IN REGARD TO FOREST FIRES 

The State of Maine presents conditions strikingly analogous to 
those in North Carolina. As is well known it is a great lumbering 
State. A people almost entirely dependent on agriculture and 
forest products for their prosperity, and whose manufacturing had 
never assumed importance, they finally recognized the interde- 
pendence of the agricultural and the forestal interests, and to 
secure the estoppage of fires and the unreasonable waste of timber, 
which goes on where it is abundant, adopted a series of laws 
relating to the suppression of fires. Their laws empowered a 
commissioner with the right to publish rules and to organize a 
corps of lire wardens and, finally, to bring suit against offenders 
to recover damages for loss sustained. 

This law. being the first of its kind in the United States, is of 
sufficient importance to he summarized. The following excerpts 
and condensations are from the law as published in the first report 
of the forest Commission of the State of Maine. 1891; which was 



*»2 I i iREST FIRES. 

obtained through the courtesy of Mr. Charles E. Oak, the present 
land agent of the State. While the provisions of this law are at 
presmt inapplicable to the conditions in North Carolina, they will 
serve to show what stress another State lavs upon the strict enforce- 
ment of the laws relating' to forest fires. 

The law provided that the land agent — the State of Maine having 
large areas of forest lands for sale — should he forest commissioner. 
It is his duty to collect statistics about the forest resources and 
products of the State, and to receive the reports of the fire wardens. 
The selectmen of all towns are tire wardens, and so also are desig- 
nated other persons living in various parts of the counties where 
tires occur. These latter are appointed by the county commis- 
sioners. It is the duty of the lire wardens to call nut citizens in 
case of a fire to aid them in extinguishing the fire or controlling 
it; and to have the authority of deputy sheriffs to force persons 
to help to extinguish a lire. All persons nut answering their sum- 
mons are subject to a line. The area burned and value of the 
property destroyed must be reported to the commissioner. It is 
the duty of municipal officers in towns, ami of county commis- 
sioners with respect to other localities in their counties, to proceed 
immediately into a strict inquiry into the cause and origin of fires 
within woodland, and in all cases where the fires originate from 
unlawful acts to cause the offender to he prosecuted without delay. 
There are provisions concerning the clearing of rights of way by 
railroads, and the use of spark-arresters ami other precautions: 
and provisions about hunters, campers, etc. 

In a private letter the present commissioner states that the law 
is very satisfactory in its workings, and has greatly lessened both 
the number of fires and the losses caused by them. Its provisions, 
he says, are carried out and offenders brought to justice. It has, 
moreover, awakened a new spirit among the people — that of pro- 
tecting young forest growth instead of destroying it. 

LAWS IN OTHEK STATES. 

The Adirondack lands, belonging to the State of New York, are 
under a system of laws more strict in detail but similar in outline 
to those in force in Maine. The aim of the forestry commission 



LAWS IN OTHER STATES. 63 

legislation in New York is to restrict Or supervise cutting of timber 
on State lands and to prevent tires occurring on the Adirondack 
mountains. The people of Pennsylvania, as well as those of 
Vermont, are taking an active interest in the protection of young 
growth and the prevention of its destruction by fires and cattle. 
Fires in Pennsylvania annually occasion a great loss of timber in 
the mountainous parts of that State and that State now has a forest 
commission whose duty it is to disseminate information concerning 
the proper care and protection of forests, and to show the injurious 
effects of fires in woodland. 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Accretion, rate of. 38 

\i ids formed by humus 30 

Alexander county, tires in 45 

Anson county, fires in 45 

Ammonia in soil 30, 31 

\-h from forest humus :'.l 

of pines 31, 32 

deciduous-leaved trees .31 

Bertie county, fires in 45 

Bladen county, tires in 46 

peaty lands of- 32 

Broad-leaved trees 24 

ash of 31 

Brunswick county, fires in 46 

Buncombe county, fires iu 4i> 

Burke county, fires in 46 

Caldwell county, tires in 47 

( latawba county, tires in 47 

Camden county, fires in 47 

Cane-brakes, origin of :!." 

Census of 1*. s., quoted 10, 14. 42 

Chestnut 27 

oak 27 

Columbus county, fires in 48 

Conifers 23 

ash of 31, 32 

i 'onsumption of wood in North Caro- 
lina 39 

( lumberland county, fires in 48 

I lave county, peaty lands of 32 

Decaj of tiv<'>. cause of. 27 

Dismal swamp, peaty lands of., .32 

Edgecombe county, fires in 48 

Evaporation of water from forests 29 

Exports of lumber from North Caro- 
lina I" 

timber from North Caro- 
lina 39 

Fixation of soluble minerals in soil... 32 

Forest capital 20 

changes in, from fires 36 

fire losses 53 

fires, damage to pines by. ..16, 21, 
23 

cypress by 23 

cedars ' 23 

effects on humus 30 

tires in Alexander county 4") 

A nson county 4"> 

Bertie county 4-"> 

Bladen county 9, 16 

Brunswick county 4(i 

Burke county 46 



PAGE. 

Forest fires in Caldwell county 47 

t latawba county 47 

( 'amden county 47 

I lolumbus county 48 

( lumberland county. .!». 48 

Edgecombe county 48 

< iraliam county 4U 

Halifax county 4'.i 

Harnett county 4'.i 

Henderson county 4!i 

Jackson county 4'.t 

Johnston county 50 

Jones county 50 

.Macon county 50 

Madison county 50 

Mitchell county 50 

Montgomery county ...50 

Moore county 9, 53 

New Hanover county, 51 
Northampton county, 51 
North Carolina in 1880, hi 
Northwestern States ....9 

( Inslow county 51 

Perquimans county 51 

Richmond county "d 

Robeson county 52 

Sampson county 52 

Wake county 52 

origins of 55 

value of property de- 
stroyed by 53 

where most prevalent 54 

why they should be 

stopped 12, 53 

lands, area of •'!/ . 42 

of European countries.. 42 
owned bv foreign capi- 
tal .....' .' 37 

products of North Carolina. 40, 41 

rotation 41 

Forests, productive area of. 37, ; v 

Frost, effects checked by humus 29 

■Fuel used in North Carolina 40, 42> 

Fungi the cause of rot 27 

Graham county, tires in 411 

i irasses of pine barrens 11 

Crass tires 11 

i rrowth of forest trees 41, 4:; 

Halifax county, fires in 49 

Hardwoods, manufacture of 3/ 

period of growth 41 

Harnett county, tires in 4'.i 

Henderson county, fires in 49 



m 



PAGE. 

Hickories, effect iff fire on 25 

frost on 29 

Hogs, destruction of pines by 16 

modification of fores s by 27 

Hollows in trees, cause of 27 

Humus, its fuctions 28 

the changes it undergoes 30 

Hyde county, peaty lands of 32 

Jackson county, tires in 50 

Johnston county, tires in 50 

Jones county, tires in 50 

.Tun i per 32 

Leaf fires 11, 25 

mold 28 

Loblolly pine 13, 23, 37, 41 

growth on sandy soil. ..14 

Long-leaf pine, changes in forests of.. 13 

destruction of by fires, 

19, 20 

growth of.. .16, 17. 18, 19 

heart-wood of 18 

masts 15 

rate of accretion of... 18 

seed of. 15, 16 

waste lands 21 

Macon county, tires in 50 

Madison county, tires in .">() 

Mitchell county, tires in "ill 

Montgomery county, tires in 50 

Moore county, tires in 51 

Mast of pine trees L5, 22 

Mountains, effects of tires in 31 

Naval stores, decrease of. 12, 20 

New Hanover county, fires in 51 

Northampton county 51 

Oaks, effects of tires on 24, 25, 26 

Old-field pine 13, 23, 37, 41 

Onslow county, tires in 51 

Pamlico county, peaty lands of . 32 



PAGE. 

Peaty soils Mi' 

Period required for forest rotation 41 

Perquimans county, fires in 51 

Pine barrens, condition of. 21, 22 

Pine, value of manufactures of 44 

Protection of pine lands 20, 22 

Red oak 27 

Richmond county, fires in 51 

Robeson county, tires in 52 

Rotation, time required for 41 

1,'ot caused by tires 27 

in red oaks 24 

Sampson county, tires in 52 

Sap-wood, subject to rot 27 

Scarcity of timber in south eastern 

counties .. 22 

Second growth woodland 35, 38 

Seed destroyed by tires 25 

Seedlings of the long leaf pine 16 

of pines and cellars 23 

Soils, effects of burning on 85 

Sour soils unfit for agriculture 32 

Sprouts from root ami stump. ..23, 24, 26 
state lands, damage to by fires 33 

Suckering of trees 24 

Timber fires 12 

Tyrrell county, tires in 52 

Wake county, tires in 52 

Waste land in eastern counties. ..44, :;."., 
34 

long-leaf pine belt 21 

North Carolina, 33, 34,38 
western counties ....34, 35 

Wood product of North Carolina 40 

value of 411 

Yield of forests 38 

Young growth, destruction of 1(1, 35 

of long-leaf pine 20 



ERRATUM. 
Page 25, line 11 from top, read Ailantkiis for Ailianthus. 



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